t^l dp 




-ZOKK. 



LIFE 



OF 



TSHOP PR0Y00ST, 



OF NEW YORK. 



JOHN N. NORTON, A.M., 

RHCTOR OF ASCENSION CHURCH, FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY J AUTHOR 

OF "rockford parish," "short sermons," "life of 

BISHOP STEWART," ETC. 



" How sacved is the relation between two persons, who, under the appointment 
of a Christian Church, had been successfully engaged together in obtaining for it 
the succession to the Apostolic office of the Episcopacy ; who, in the subsequent 
exercise of that Episcopacy, had jointly labored in all the ecclesiastical business 
which has occurred among us ; who, through the whole of it, never knew a word, 
or even a sensation, tending to personal dissatisfaction or disunion I" 

Bishop White. 



NEW YORK: 

(Keneval Protestant 2Epfscoj)al <S. Scjool Simon, 
anti (ftjurcj 3Sooft Society, 

762 BKOADWAY. 

1859. 



UK* 



*%$ 






'01 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, 

By the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School 
Union and Church Book Society, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



RENNIE, SHEA & LINDSAY, 

Stereotypers and Electrotypers, 

81, 83, & 85 Centre-street, 

New York. 



TO 

THE REV. GEORGE H. NORTON, JUN., 

RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



My Dear Brother : 

When our good mother put her hand upon our heads, 
in the days of our boyhood, and said, " I should be so glad 
to see you both grow up to become clergymen!" perhaps we 
little realized that her heart's desire would be granted. 
And yet she has lived to see it come to pass. 

The Hand of Providence which led you to the School of 
the Prophets, at Alexandria, and me to the General Semi- 
nary, at New York, has fixed our spheres of labor in differ- 
ent dioceses ; but I know full well, that you are quite as 
zealous for the advancement of God's Holy Church, as I can 
possibly hope to be. 

As a token of affection, I place your name at the opening 
of this volume, in which some important items of the 
Church's history are noted down. May we both be stimu- 
lated by the examples of the good and the devoted who 
have gone before, to make full proof of our ministry. 



" The Episcopate itself had its appointments from God. The office of 
a Bishop was instituted by the authority and denned by the ordinance of 
God. Let them give us such an hierarchy, in which the Bishops may so 
bear rule, that they refuse not to submit to Christ, and to depend upon 
Him as their only Head ; let them be so united together in a brotherly 
concord, as that His truth shall be their only bond of union ; then, indeed, 
if there shall be any who will not reverence them, and pay them the most 
exact obedience, there is no anathema but I confess them worthy of it." 

John Calvin. 

" I would to God it lay in me to restore the government of Bishops. 
For I see what manner of Church we shall have, the ecclesiastical polity 
being dissolved. I do see that, hereafter, there will grow up a greater 
tyranny in the Church than there ever was before." 

Philip Melancthon. 

" I declare once more, that I live and die a member of the Church of 
England, and that none who regard my judgment or advice, will ever 
separate from it." 

John Wesley. 



PREFACE. 



The authorities from which the writer has derived 
his information, in preparing this work, are generally 
noted at the foot of the pages. But after having 
gathered his materials, most faithfully, from every 
printed source, the volume would hardly have been 
written, but for the kindness of an old and valued 
friend, Mr. Thomas N. Stanford, who suggested a 
way in which some of the private papers of Bishop 
Provoost might be obtained, and, of the Rev. S. H. 
Weston, of Trinity Parish, New York, who took the 
trouble to make application for them. 

Although the first Bishop of New York will not 
rank with the most zealous champions of the Church, 
and his name can never arouse such emotions as that 
of Hobart, or Griswold, or Ravenscroft, or Chase must 
excite, he certainly occupies no mean place in the 
Church's history ; and the times in which he lived, 
and the scenes in which he mingled, render his life 
most interesting. 



" Then shall Religion to America flee ; 
They have their times of Gospel, e^n as we. 
My God, thou dost prepare for them a way, 
By carrying first their gold from them away ; 
For gold and grace did never yet agree ; 
Religion always sides with poverty. 
****** 

As the sun still goes both west and east, 

So also did the Church, by going west, 

Still eastward go ; because it drew more near 

To time and place where judgment shall appear." 

George Herbert. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Dr. Francis' historical discourse — Some items about Bishop 
Provoost — What our readers may expect — Birth and parentage 
— The Huguenots and their sufferings — New Amsterdam and 
the Dutch — Bowling Green and the Fort, and cabbage-gardens 
— The English and Dutch engaged in war — New Amsterdam 
is called by another name — More wars and bloodshed — Lake 
St. Sacrement 15 



CHAPTER II. 

No mean progress made in study — Enters King's College — Its 
first president, and the influence he exerted for the Church — 
Samuel Provoost' s early religious training — The Dutch 
Reformed Church — Something more about King's College — 
Laying the corner-stone — The first commencement — Young 
Provoost graduates— Influences which led him to the Episco- 
pal Church — Political affairs — The fortunes of war changing 
again — Mr. Provoost goes to England, and becomes a fellow- 
commoner at Cambridge — Various explanations given — Re- 
sisting temptations — Dr. Jebb 21 



CHAPTER III. 

Thoughts turned to the ministry — Unbiassed choice — Right 
views of a most important subject — Ripe scholarship — Ordi- 
nation — Chapel Royal of St. James' Palace — Historical asso- 
ciations — A solemn question — Why Mr. Provoost was so soon 
advanced to the Priesthood— Romantic incident — Benjamin 
Bousfield — His mother and sister pay him a visit, and im- 
portant consequences thereof— Mr. Provoost' s marriage— 
Return to America — Chosen assistant minister of Trinity 
Church, New York 29 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Very little pulpit eloquence — Style of English preaching in 
those days — John Wesley's advice — " The finest wheat from 
the desk" — Dr. Franklin's opinion of the Church service— 
The effect produced by the Litany — The clergy of Trinity 
Church — Mr. Provoost as a preacher — Visit to Ireland — Dif- 
ficulties which met him upon his return to New York — Dif- 
ferent ways of accounting for them — Mr. Provoost retires to 
his farm — New York city surrenders to the English — The 
great fire — Trinity Church destroyed — Due credit to Mr. In- 
glis . 35 



CHAPTER V. 

Why East Camp was chosen as a place of refuge — How Mr. 
Provoost passed his time — Various honorable appointments 
offered to him — His reasons given for declining them — Calls 
to several parishes — Endurance of poverty and privation — 
Selling furniture and other expedients — Anecdote of the Rev- 
olution — Almost a fighting parson — End of the war — The 
British troops leave New York — Rejoicings upon the return of 
the American forces — Gleams of hope for Mr. Provoost. . . 42 



CHAPTER VI. 

Trinity Church during the Revolution — Dr. Inglis resigns the 
Rectorship — The Rev. Benjamin Moore appointed his suc- 
cessor — A new scene opens — Vexed questions, and difficulties 
not a few — tt Council" appointed by the Legislature — Changes 
effected in the affairs of Trinity Church — The election of Mr. 
Moore declared null and void — Mr. Provoost chosen Rector — 
His return to the city — Recovers his property — Exercise of 
hospitality — Appointed Regent of the State University — Re- 
moval of Congress to New York city — Mr. Provoost elected 
Chaplain — The authority of Congress in those days — Adop- 
tion of our present Constitution 49 



CHAPTER VII. 

No Church organization as yet— Efforts towards securing this 
desirable end— Bishop Seabury's consecration— The action 
of Churchmen in the several States outside of Connecticut — 
Our Federal government considered as a model— The Epis- 



CONTENTS. 11 



copal Church shown to be in strictest harmony with our civil 
institutions — John Adams, and his exertions to secure the 
Episcopate for the Church in America — Applications to vari- 
ous countries — Satisfactory arrangements made at last — Mr. 
Provoost chosen Bishop — Sails for England 54 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

Short and safe passage — Arrival at London — Kindness of Mr. 
Adams — Tedious delay — Letter from Dr. Provoost —Makes 
the acquaintance of several Bishops — Meeting some old friends 
— Kind attentions — The widow Jebb — The old Bishop of 
Carlisle — " Cold, fat goose-pie" — Glimpse of the king — All 
arrangements ended — Bird's-eye view of Lambeth — Solemn 
ceremonial — Signing the certificates — What the reader will 
hardly believe 62 



CHAPTER IX. 

A great object accomplished — Preparations for returning to 
America — Dr. Inglis in London — A kind letter — Departure 
from Falmouth — Long and boisterous passage — Sea-sickness 
— Arrival at New York on Easter-day — Bishop Provoost wel- 
comed by his Convention — Address of the Eev. Abraham 
Beach— the Bishop's reply— God's blessing invoked 72 



CHAPTER X. 

Early history of the Church in New York — Services in the old 
fort — Increase of the congregation — Colonel Fletcher's zealous 
efforts — Eoyal grant for the benefit of the Church — Honored 
names — Queen Anne's gift — The " Queen's farm," then and 
now — " The finest church in North America" — Choice of a 
clergyman — Mr. Vesey — Interesting particulars concerning 
him — The various rectors of Trinity Parish, to the days of 
Bishop Provoost — Prosperous condition of the Church. . . 80 



CHAPTER XI. 

The progress of the Church beyond the limits of New York 
city — Westchester county — A church built and a minister 
called — The Eev. John Bartow, and his labors — Many per- 
sons brought over to the Church — Preaching in a barn — 
Petty annoyances at Jamaica — The Presbyterian preacher 
takes possession of the pulpit — Disgraceful scene in the after- 



12 CONTENTS. 



n00 n — Lord Cornbury, the governor, interferes— Death of 
the missionary — His successor, and some account of what he 
did for the Church — Primitive specimens of architecture — 
Six months cold and six months hot weather — Condition of 
the negro slaves in Westchester — Death of Mr. Standard — 
Mr. Milner and Mr. Seabury 87 



CHAPTER XII. 

New Kochelle— The Eev. Daniel Bondet — His history in a few 
words — The first French Church and minister in New Eo- 
chelle — Mr. Bondet becomes a missionary of the Society — 
Gradual transformation of his congregation — Their final 
adoption of the English Prayer-book — New church built — 
Mr. Pelham's gift — Death of the missionary — The Eev. Mr. 
Stouppe — His troubles as recited by himself — The Eev. 
Michael Houdin — A romantic history — Guide for General 
Wolfe— Becomes the guide of the flock at New Eochelle — 
Charter from George III. — Mr. Houdin' s death 97 



CHAPTER XIII. 

An omission which would be unpardonable — Devoted laymen — 
Colonel Heathcote — Curious cause of emigration — Becomes a 
prominent man in the province of New York — Various honor- 
able offices which he held — Services rendered to the Church — 
The stately manor-house — Eeverenced by the poor — Sudden 
death — Last will and testament — Some account of his de- 
scendants — Colonel Lewis Morris — His character and habits — 
Influence in the political world — Devotion to the Church — 
Dutch Prayer-books — Timber for Trinity Church — Stopping 
short, for want of space to say more 105 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Missions among the Indians of New York — Memorial of the 
Earl of Bellamont — The Eev. Thoroughgood Moor — Is there 
any virtue in a name ? — The Mohawks' castle — Indian deceit 
— The mission fails — Lord Cornbury's outrageous acts — Im- 
prisonment of Mr. Moor — Lost at sea — Four chiefs go to 
England — New mission to the Indians — The Eev. William 
Andrews — First view of the Indian country — Customs of the 
tribes — Hopes of doing good — Eepeated discouragements — 
Withdraws from the field — Other laborers succeed him — The 
fruits of long and patient waiting — Honored names 112 



CONTENTS. 13 



CHAPTER XV. 

Religious instruction of the blacks — A school opened for them 
in New York in 1704 — Elias Neau — His sacrifices and labors — 
Reliance in God's promises — Prayers of the Church — Two 
hours' teaching — Public catechizing — Unmerited reproach to 
be borne — Negro plot for burning New York city — Loud and 
angry clamor against the teacher — W ho were guilty ? — Jeal- 
ousies and suspicions — Action of the Common Council — Gov- 
ernor Hunter quiets the alarmists — Neau's death — His work 
carried on by others 120 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The personal history of Bishop Provoost resumed — Letters of 
friendly congratulation— The Rev. Uzal Ogden, and his pres- 
ent of Newark cider — Long before the days of Church news- 
papers — Gleanings from the past — The first Ordination held 
by the Bishop — Columbia College sends a good representa- 
tion to Church on that day — Non-Episcopal Clergymen in- 
vited to attend — Mr. Wright's strong Church sermon, and 
the sensation which it produced — The dry question which 
Dr. Rodgers asked — The first Confirmation in New York — 
Mrs. Owen's Reminiscences — Old and young confessing Christ 
— Colored servants, and the part they took — The Clergy who 
were present — Letter from Bishop White — Crowds attending 
Ordinations 128 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Statistics not accurately kept — The first Confirmations in the 
Diocese — An old soiled paper, and its contents — Old families 
well represented — No union of Church and State — Great na- 
tional pageants in which the Episcopal Church has borne a 
conspicuous part — Inauguration of President Washington — 
The procession and the speeches — Services in St. Paul's 
Chapel — Bishop Provoost officiates — Mr. Boardman's recol- 
lections of Washington — Waiting to see the President enter 
the church — His dress and bearing — Diligent in the use of 
his Prayer-book — The two pews with canopies, in St. Paul's 
Chapel — Pictures with antique frames 137 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The first Ordination ever held in New Jersey — Bishop and 
Rector — An anonymous letter — Stabbing in the dark — Com- 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



plaints about the preaching in Trinity — General Convention 
of 1789 — Adoption of the Constitution of the Church — Letter 
from Albany — An introduction to the Eev. Thomas Ellison — 
"A portly gentleman in black" — Kind reception given to a 
stranger, and the consequence thereof — A journey of a hun- 
dred ana twelve miles, and what missionary work was done 
— Prejudices 147 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The first published list of the Clergy of New York — An im- 
portant point which is established by a reference to these 
fifteen names — Noble gift to the church at Duanesburgh — 
General Convention or 1792 — Bishop Provoost presides — A 
Bishop consecrated for Maryland — Three other General Con- 
ventions briefly noticed — Death of Washington — Some inter- 
esting things in a note — Funeral services in St. Paul's Chapel 
— The grand procession — Funeral urn — Gouverneur Morris's 
oration — The Bishop's prayer 156 



CHAPTER XX. 

What natural inclination would have led Bishop Provoost to 
do — The effects of bereavement upon his troubled mind — 
Kind letter of condolence — Dr. Stanford and his son — Bishop 
Provoost retires to private life — Election of his successor — A 
most important act somewhat unfolded at large — Chosen to 
one office, and consecrated to another — Years pass away be- 
fore the evils of the legislation were felt — The new Bishop 
enters upon his work 165 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Bishop Provoost in retirement — Bishop Moore's illness — An 
assistant chosen — Hindrances in the way of his Consecration 
-—All difficulties arranged — An immense assembly held in 
suspense—' 4 He's come !" " Thank God !" — Something about 
wigs — Bitter opposition to Bishop Hobart's election— Bishop 
Provoost persuaded to do a very inconsistent thing — Difficul- 
ties in Maryland— Firm and resolute once more— Sudden 
death — Funeral — Extract from Bishop Hobart's Convention 
address — Traits of character— A trying case— Conclusion. 173 



LIFE 

OF 

BISHOP PROVOOST. 



CHAPTER FIRST. 

Dr. Francis' historical discourse — Some items about Bishop 
Provoost — What our readers may expect — Birth and parentage 
— The Huguenots and their sufferings — New Amsterdam and 
the Dutch — Bowling Green and the fort, and cabbage-gardens 
— The English and Dutch engaged in war — New Amsterdam 
is called by another name — More wars and bloodshed — Lake 
St. Sacrement. 

HE venerable Dr. Francis, in his 
discourse before the New York His- 
torical Society in 1857, remarks con- 
cerning Bishop Provoost, that "his 
learning, his liberality, and his patri- 
otism have been too much overlooked. 
He had the bearing of a well-stalled Bishop, 
was of pleasing address, and of refined manners. 
He imbibed his first classical taste at King's 
College, and was graduated at Peter House, 
Cambridge. He became skilled in the Hebrew, 
Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian 
languages, and we have been assured he made 




16 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

an English poetical version of Tasso. He was 
quite a proficient in botanical knowledge, and 
was among the earliest in England who studied 
the Linnsean classification."* 

From this little sketch of the first Bishop of 
New York, we are prepared to find many 
things in his history which will repay us for 
the trouble of collecting and arranging them 
in due order. Our readers, however, must not 
be disappointed if the subject of this memoir 
does not prove to have been as full of mission- 
ary zeal as some with whose lives we are 
familiar ; but they will have no cause to re- 
gret that they have made the acquaintance of 
Bishop Provoost. The times in which he lived 
will lead us to speak of many interesting and 
important matters. 

Samuel Pkovoost was the son of John and 
Eve (Rutgers) Provoost, and was born in the 
city of New York, on the 26th of February 
(O. S.), 1742. It is curious to observe, as an 
instance of the superstitions of the times, that 
his father was not only very particular to 
record in the large family Bible the exact hour 
and minute when his children were born, but 
he also set down the appearance of the heavens. 



* " Old New York," p. 52. 



THE HUGUENOTS. 17 

Bishop Provoost's father was a descendant 
of William Provoost, of a Huguenot family, 
who made his escape from France at the time 
of the cruel massacre of St. Bartholomew,* 
and came to New York (then called New Am- 
sterdam) in 1634. At the time of the birth of 
our hero, the famous city in which he first saw 
the light was nothing like what it is in our day. 
It was then only a hundred and twenty-eight 
years since the Dutch had landed upon Man- 
hattan Island, and established a town, which 
they called New Amsterdam. The population 

* As we endeavor always to keep our younger readers in 
mind, we will here explain that the Huguenots were French 
Protestants — a sect which had its birth during the reign of Francis 
the First. In doctrine and dsicipline there was little to distin- 
guish them from the disciples of John Calvin. Notwithstand- 
ing the opposition of the Bornish Church, the new sect spread 
and multiplied, until at length Francis, and Henry II., who 
succeeded him on the throne, deprived the Huguenots of many 
of their privileges as citizens. 

The winding up of a long series of persecutions was the ter- 
rible massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, August 24, 1572. 
Charles IX. had invited many of the principal Protestants to 
Paris to attend a royal wedding, a solemn oath being given of 
their safety. At daybreak, on the festival of St. Bartholomew, 
the barbarous massacre began ; the city of Paris was ravaged, 
and ten thousand persons were put to death. The same cruel 
proceedings extended throughout the kingdom — the Pope and 
the authorities of the Eomish Church sanctioning what was done. 

It was in consequence of the persecutions of Eome, that the 
Provoosts, and hundreds of other Huguenot families, sought 
refuge in America. 

2* 



18 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

of New York at the time of Samuel Provoost's 
birth was about twelve thousand. But this 
was a wonderful improvement, since the honest 
Dutch had built their little fort and trading- 
house on what is now known as the Bowling 
Green. The march of civilization at first was 
gradual. " Around this fort a progeny of lit- 
tle Dutch-built houses, with tiled roofs and 
weather-cocks, soon sprang up, nestling them- 
selves under its wall for protection, as a brood 
of half-fledged chickens nestle under the wings 
of the mother hen. The whole was surrounded 
by an inclosure of strong palisadoes, to guard 
against any sudden irruption of the savages. 
Outside of these extended the corn-fields and 
cabbage-gardens of the community, with here 
and there an attempt at a tobacco plantation ; 
all covering those tracts of country at present 
called Broadway, Wall-street, "William-street, 
and Pearl street."* 

With the exception of occasional difficulties 
with the Indians, the Dutch settlers of New 
Amsterdam went on very quietly, until they 
had some misunderstanding with their English 
neighbors. King Charles declared that the 

* Knickerbacker's New York, chap. viii. I hope that all of 
my readers will make the acquaintance of this charming book of 
Washington Irving' s. 



ENGLISH AND DUTCH WAR. 19 

lands occupied by the Dutch, within the terri- 
tory of New York, belonged to him, and he 
accordingly gave them to his brother, the 
Duke of York and Albany. James (for this 
was the duke's name) appeared before the lit- 
tle fort at New Amsterdam with three ships, 
in 1664, and obliged the people to surrender. 
The name of the place was then changed to 
New York. In 1673 the town w r as retaken 
by the Dutch, but the next year, w T hen peace 
was concluded between England and Holland, 
it was restored to the English. The first 
pavements were laid there in 1676, and so the 
city went on improving, until the strip of land 
which w T as bought of the Indians for twenty- 
four dollars, was covered by the largest city of 
the New "World. 

The little boy, whose birth we have men- 
tioned at the opening of the chapter, was a 
subject of the King of England, and will con- 
tinue so for some years to come. He was only 
a year old when George Clinton came over as 
governor of the colony, who was warmly wel- 
comed by the people. 

In 1744, England and France were involved 
in strife, and George the Second being then 
upon the English throne, the contest is known, 
in history as King George's War. During its 



20 LIFE OF BISHOP PEOVOOST. 

continuance Saratoga was destroyed, and vari- 
ous parts of the colony of New York suffered 
much. Some Indian braves came to Albany, 
and concealing themselves in the neighborhood, 
they lay in wait for prisoners ; and one, more 
daring than the rest, ventured within the city 
itself, and carried off people by night. But 
Samuel Provoost was too young as yet to take 
much interest in these exciting scenes. 

In 1755, when the English and French be- 
gan hostilities again, he was thirteen years of 
age, and of course the sound of drum and fife, 
and the gay uniform of soldiers, parading 
through the streets, excited him somewhat, 
and no doubt he joined with all loyal subjects 
of the king in hoping for victory for his coun- 
try's arms. 

Braddock's defeat at Fort Du Quesne was 
rather a clamper upon them all, and when, 
about two years later, Montcalm captured 
Fort William Henry, on the banks of Lake 
George,* the English had little cause for 
self-gratulation left. 

* Horicon was the Indian name for this beautiful sheet of 
water. The French missionaries called it St. Sacrement, because 
they thought its waters too pure for any purpose but the ordi- 
nance of Holy Baptism. See a beautiful ballad by the Eev. A. 
C. Coxe, D.D., entitled "St. Sacrement, a legend of Lake 
George.' ' 



CHAPTER SECOND. 

No mean progress made in study — Enters King's College — Its 
first president, and the influence he exerted for the Church — 
Samuel Provoost's early religious training — The Dutch 
Eeformed Church — Something more about King's College — 
Laying the corner-stone — The first commencement — Young 
Provoost graduates — Influences which led him to the Episco- 
pal Church — Political affairs — The fortunes of war changing 
again — Mr. Provoost goes to England, and becomes a fellow- 
commoner at Cambridge — Various explanations given — Ke- 
sisting temptations — Dr. Jebb. 



Ssrr 




^* H ATEVEE interest Samuel Provoost 
n If may have felt in the contest between 
A&A England and France, he was kept 
steadily at school ; and although his 
•thoughts must have often wandered 
when tidings of success or defeat were 
brought, he made no mean progress with his 
books. Having completed his preparatory 
course, he entered as one of the early students 
of King's (now Columbia) College, then occu- 
pying a frame building in Trinity Church-yard. 
The charter for this institution was granted 
in 1754, and Dr. Samuel Johnson,* an Episco- 

* See Life of Bishop Seabury, p. 16. 



22 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

pal clergyman from Connecticut, was cliosen 
the first president. A more admirable selection 
could not possibly have been made. 

It has been thought, and that too with good 
reason, that young Provoost may have had his 
mind turned towards the Episcopal Church by 
President Johnson, who was a very zealous 
advocate of what he believed to be the truth. 
Indeed, a man who had sacrificed ease and the 
prospect of worldly happiness for the sake of 
religion, could not remain indifferent, so long 
as it was possible for him to bring others to 
the light. 

Samuel Provoost's ancestors, for several gen- 
erations past, had belonged to the Reformed 
Dutch Church,* and his early training was in 
accordance with the teachings of this body. 

When King's College was organized in May, 
1755, " Trinity Church conveyed to its govern- 
ors the land inclosed by Church, Barclay, and 
Murray streets, to the Hudson River. The 
only conditions of the gift were, that the presi- 
dent should always be a member of the Church 



* The Dutch Kefornied Church in this country is derived 
from the National Church of Holland, and its history, with us, 
dates back to the early days of New York and New Jersey. 
They received as their rule of faith, the Confessions of Faith, 
&c.j of the Synod of Dort. 



king's college. 23 

of England, and that its liturgy should be used 
in the service of the college. Beyond this, 
there was to be no exclusion for religious opin- 
ion. The college seal was adopted from a de- 
vice prepared by the president. 

"Application was made to England for 
funds. James Jay went over as an applicant, 
and associated with Dr. Smith, provost of the 
college in Philadelphia. A large sum was 
collected for both institutions. On the 23d of 
August, the first stone of the college building 
was laid by the governor, Sir Charles Hardy, 
who had favored the object at the outset, on 
his first arrival."* On this occasion, President 
Johnson made a short, elegant Latin address 
to the governor of the college, to Sir Charles, 
and to Mr. De Lancy, congratulating them on 
this happy event. 

The earliest commencement was that of 
1758, when a class of eight young men re- 
ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Sam- 
uel Provoost was one of these. He was then 
seventeen years of age. Two students from 
the college of New Jersey were admitted to 
the same honor. " The degree of Master of 
Arts (says Dr. Chandler, in his interesting life 

* Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of American Literature, vol. i. 
p. 379. 



24 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

of President Johnson), was conferred upon 
others, who had spent some time in the col- 
lege, and were thought qualified for it ; and 
several who had taken that degree in other 
colleges, were admitted ad eundem. The 
whole number of graduates amounted to up- 
wards of twenty, and made a very respectable 
appearance." 

We have already expressed the opinion that 
Dr. Johnson had a good deal to do with young 
Provoost's turning Churchman. 

King's College having then but few students, 
the president was enabled to become more in- 
timately acquainted with them, than he could 
have done under other circumstances ; and no 
person could remain long with him, without 
being more or less influenced by him. More- 
over, although Dr. Johnson had no pastoral 
charge in the city, his popularity as a preach- 
er was so great, that the vestry of Trinity 
Church employed him as a lecturer in that 
church, where he officiated in turn with the 
rector and assistant ministers. No doubt the 
students of King's College, whether Churchmen 
or not, would occasionally attend service at 
Trinity, when their honored preceptor was ex- 
pected to officiate ; and thus they became 
familiar with the mode of worship, and other 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH WAR. 25 

peculiarities of the Church. Few persons of 
good taste and refinement could fail to be im- 
pressed by the solemnity and grandeur of the 
ancient prayers and anthems, and by the de- 
cency and order which distinguished every part. 

It is possible that young Provoost did not 
actually become a member of the Episcopal 
Church until some years afterwards, when he 
received Confirmation in England. 

About the time he left college, the for- 
tunes of the English in the war with France 
began to change. William Pitt, a statesman 
of commanding abilities, was placed at the 
head of affairs; new officers were appointed 
to head the armies of the king; and, ere long, 
the capture of Louisburg, on the island of 
Cape Breton, Fort Du Quesne, and Frontenac, 
showed the wisdom of these appointments. 

The year 1759 was marked by successes 
still more brilliant. Quebec, Niagara, Ticon- 
deroga, and Crown Point were taken from the 
French, and soon the whole of Canada was 
surrendered to the British. 

These items of history have merely been re- 
ferred to, that our readers may bear in mind 
what was going on in the country, while young 
Provoost was preparing to enter upon the ac- 
tive duties of life. 

3 



26 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

In the summer of 1761, he embarked for 
England in order that he might enjoy the rare 
advantages offered to ambitious students, by 
the celebrated universities which are the 
crowning glory of our fatherland. He arrived 
at Falmouth in September, and in November 
following, he entered Fellow-Commoner of St. 
Peter's College, Cambridge, 

It should be remembered that an English 
university embraces several colleges, each of 
which is a distinct body, and bound by its 
own laws ; while all are controlled, in certain 
particulars, by the paramount authority of the 
university. This general government is ex- 
ercised by a chancellor, a vice-chancellor, and 
other officers of various ranks. 

Cambridge University includes seventeen 
distinct colleges, and it was as fellow-com- 
moner of one of these that young Provoost 
entered, as was before stated. This term, fel- 
low-commoner, will be new to many of our 
readers, and we therefore add, that these are 
generally young men of fortune, who, in con- 
sideration of their paying a larger sum, are 
allowed to sit at the Fellows' table, to have 
the first choice of rooms, and various other 
privileges of the sort. 

The main body of the students are called 



RESISTING TEMPTATIONS. 27 

Pensioners, while the Sizars answer to the 
beneficiaries of our American colleges. 

The&e last are aided by the funds of the col- 
lege, and dine at the Fellows' table, free of 
charge, after the regular dinner has been 
served.* It may readily be supposed that a 
young man whose rank or wealth enabled him 
to enter as a fellows-commoner, would be ex- 
posed to many temptations, from which one 
in humbler circumstances would be compara- 
tively safe. Those, therefore, who, while shar- 
ing in the innocent enjoyments about them, 
are kept from the excesses to which even 
harmless indulgence may naturally lead, should 
receive some credit for their prudence and self- 
control. When we say this, of course we do 
not forget that it is God's grace alone which 
can enable us to think good thoughts, or per- 
form right actions. 

The young IsTew Yorker, while he enjoyed 
the society of his companions, and joined 
freely in the prevailing amusements at Cam- 
bridge, prosecuted his studies with the most 
commendable assiduity and zeal. 

In English colleges those who are able to 
afford it engage a private tutor, whose busi- 

* For further particulars, see Bristed's Five Years in an En- 
glish University, vol. i. p. 17. 



28 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

ness it is to aid them in their preparation for 
recitations and examinations. Mr. Provoost 
was peculiarly fortunate in this respect. The 
celebrated Dr. Jebb became his tutor, a man 
of distinguished abilities, with whom he formed 
an ardent friendship, which lasted until the 
death of Dr. Jebb. 



CHAPTER THIRD. 

Thoughts turned to the ministry — Unbiassed choice — Eight 
views of a most important subject — Eipe scholarship — Ordi- 
nation — Chapel Koyal of St. James' Palace — Historical asso- 
ciations — A solemn question — Why Mr. Provoost was so soon 
advanced to the Priesthood — Komantic incident — Benjamin 
Bousfield — His mother and sister pay him a visit, and im- 
portant consequences thereof— Mr. Provoost' s marriage — 
Eeturn to America — Chosen assistant minister of Trinity 
Church, New York. 

^fl OUNG PEOYOOST had not been 
long at Cambridge before lie decided 
to devote his life to the sacred minis- 
try. We trust that this determina- 
tion was formed after due reflection 
upon the awful responsibilities of the 
office of an ambassador for Christ. It is evi- 
dent, from the letters which passed between 
him and his father, that this was his own un- 
biassed choice. Persons have no doubt turned 
their attention to the ministry to gratify 
their friends, or because they regarded it as a 
highly respectable calling, or with a view of 
securing a comfortable living. Now, these 

3* 




30 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

motives are low and debased, when viewed in 
connection with, a step so solemn and im- 
portant. 

On the other hand, if the Spirit of God has 
touched the heart, and disposes one to devote 
his time and abilities to the service of Christ 
and His Church, it should be regarded as a 
voice from above calling him to buckle on his 
armor, and go forth to the battle. 

Mr. Provoost was certainly a good scholar, 
and he had not only gained an accurate know- 
ledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but he had 
also made himself master of the French and 
Italian languages. In a letter to his father, 
dated April 15, 1765, he says : " I can get my 
degree and commendamus here whenever I 
please ; nothing but my being too young for 
orders eonld prevent my returning home next 
summer." 

One year more removed this difficulty, and 
accordingly on the 3d of February, 1766, he 
was admitted to Deacon's orders, at the Chapel 
Royal of St. James' Palace, Westminster, by 
Dr. Richard Terrick, Bishop of London. 

Thirteen years before, Samuel Seabury (after- 
wards Bishop of Connecticut) had been ad- 
mitted to the same degree, and four years after 
the ordination of Mr. Provoost, William White 



A SOLEMN QUESTION. 31 

(so long the presiding Bishop of the American 
Church) was made a Deacon in the Church of 
God. 

St. James' Chapel, where Mr. Provoost was 
ordained, was surrounded by many historical 
associations. Here, for ages past, the sover- 
eigns and princes of England had kneeled be- 
fore the footstool of Him who is King of kings 
and Lord of lords. 

It is a small, plain place of worship, with 
seats running along the wall, like stalls in a 
cathedral ; and, as on other occasions when the 
Holy Communion was to be celebrated, the 
massive golden vessels were displayed upon 
the altar. 

When the venerable Bishop turned to the 
candidates, who stood at the chancel-rail, and 
asked the solemn question, "Will you apply 
all diligence to frame and fashion your own 
lives, and the lives of your families, according 
to the doctrine of Christ ; and to make both 
yourselves and them, as much as lieth in you, 
wholesome examples of the flock of Christ?" — 
it is to be hoped that each one was able to 
answer, with unaffected sincerity, "I will do 
so, the Lord being my helper." 

As it would be asking too much of Mr. Pro- 
voost to require him to take another voyage to 



32 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

England to be ordained Priest, arrangements 
were made so that he could be admitted to this 
higher degree of the ministry without the usual 
delay. Accordingly, he was advanced to the 
Priesthood on Tuesday before Easter, March 
25, 1766, in King's Chapel, "Whitehall, by Dr. 
Edmund Kean, Bishop of Chester. 

And here we have rather a romantic incident 
to record. Very strong and lasting friendships 
often spring up between young men at college, 
and it so happened that Mr. Provoost and 
Benjamin Bousfield became quite intimate at 
Cambridge. 

The latter was the only son of Thomas Bous- 
field, a man of wealth, and, at that time, the 
only banker in the city of Cork. The son 
afterwards became a prominent member of the 
Irish House of Commons, and ex-sheriff of the 
county of Cork, during the political distur- 
bance in that unhappy country. 

He was a man of some literary abilities, and 
wrote an answer to Edmund Burke's celebrated 
book on the French revolution. 

Mr. Thomas Bousfield died, and during the 
son's continuance at Cambridge, the widowed 
mother and her daughter Maria paid a visit to 
him at the university. 

Of course Mr. Provoost became acquainted 



EETURN TO AMERICA. 33 

with the mother and sister of his friend, and 
the young people soon formed a mutual attach- 
ment, and very important consequences fol- 
lowed. They were married in St. Mary's 
Church, Cambridge, by one of the senior 
Fellows of Trinity College, on the 8th of June, 
1766. 

Probably these arrangements were consum- 
mated more speedily than might otherwise 
have been the case, from the fact that the ves- 
try of Trinity Church, New York, was then 
building St. Paul's Chapel, and the young 
clergyman had received some intimations that 
the intention was to offer him a position in that 
important parish. 

Soon after his marriage, Mr. Provoost re- 
turned to New York with his bride, and in 
December, 1766, accepted a call to be an as- 
sistant minister of Trinity Church. Besides 
the parish church, there were at this time two 
chapels, St. George's and St. Paul's, belonging 
to the corporation of Trinity. The Rev. Sam- 
uel Auchmuty was Rector, and the Rev. John 
Ogilvie and the Rev. Charles Inglis (afterwards 
Bishop of Nova Scotia), assistant ministers.* 

* As it is proposed to give a full sketch of the history of 
Trinity parish, in connection with the life of Bishop Benjamin 
Moore, we do not dwell upon it here. 



34 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

That our readers may remember at liow 
early a day Mr. Provoost began to discharge 
the duties of his sacred office, we would re- 
mark, in passing, that only one year before 
this, the first permanent white settlement had 
been made in Tennessee, and that it was not 
until 1769 that Daniel Boone made his visit 
of exploration to Kentucky. 



CHAPTER FOURTH. 



Very little pulpit eloquence — Style of English preaching in 
those days — John Wesley's advice — " The finest wheat from 
the desk" — Dr. Franklin's opinion of the Church service — 
The effect produced by the Litany — The clergy of Trinity 
Church — Mr. Provoost as a preacher — Visit to Ireland — Dif- 
ficulties which met him upon his return to New York — Dif- 
ferent ways of accounting for them — Mr. Provoost retires to 
his farm — New York city surrenders to the English — The 
great fire — Trinity Church destroyed — Due credit to Mr. In- 



HEN Mr. Provoost began his min- 
istiy in New York, there was very- 
little, either in this country or in 
England, of what wonld be called 
puVpit eloquence. Fortunately, the 
beautiful services of the Church are 
always the same, and do not depend at all 
upon the abilities of the minister; but preach- 
ing is a different thing. 

The sermons of the English clergy had long 
been of a prosy and lifeless cast, — correct in 
style, and unexceptionable in morals ; but 
rather dry essays than stirring appeals to the 




36 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

consciences of sinners, or warnings and in- 
structions for professed Christians. But even 
allowing that matters had gone farther than 
this (which a strict regard to truth would not 
permit us to admit), it would have been wrong 
for any one to forsake the worship of the 
Church, in order to hear preaching more to 
his taste elsewhere. 

John Wesley showed his wisdom, and his re- 
gard for the authority of Christ's holy Church, 
when he said to one of his followers who urged 
upon him the deficiencies of the clergy as a 
cause of separation from the Church of Eng- 
land : " If you have nothing but chaff from 
the pulpit, you are abundantly fed with the 
finest wheat from the desk." 

And Dr. Franklin gave the best advice pos- 
sible to his daughter, when he wrote to her, 
on the eve of his departure for England, in 
1764 — " Go constantly to church, whoever 
preaches. The act of devotion in the Common 
Prayer-book is your principal business there ; 
and if properly attended to, will do more to- 
wards amending the heart than sermons gen- 
erally can do; for they were composed by 
men of much greater piety and wisdom than 
our common composers of sermons can pretend 
to be." 



CLERGY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 37 

It is a well-known fact that some of the 
most wonderful effects of Whitefield's minis- 
try in Wales, and elsewhere, were produced 
by the earnest manner in which he offered up 
the supplications of the Litany. 

We have every reason for supposing that 
the style of preaching in the several Episcopal 
churches, in New York, was after the ordi- 
nary model of English sermonizing of that 
day, — orthodox in doctrine, but somewhat 
tame and unimpassioned in the delivery. 

Dr. Auchmuty was an excellent and devo- 
ted pastor, and much beloved by his people ; 
and Mr. Ogilvie read the service remarkably 
well, and in the discourse delivered at his fu- 
neral, the words of St. Paul were happily ap- 
plied to him : " Ye are witnesses, and God 
also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably 
he behaved himself among you ; how he ex- 
horted, and comforted, and charged every one 
of you, as a father doth his children, that ye 
might walk worthy of God, who hath called 
you to His kingdom and glory." 

Mr. Inglis, another assistant minister of 
Trinity, who was associated with Mr. Provoost, 
was regarded as a powerful preacher, whose 
bold rebukes of profane swearing and intem- 
perance, and other offences against morality 

4 



38 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

and religion, were in striking contrast with the 
quiet, philosophical disquisitions, which too 
often took the place of earnest Gospel truths. 

Although Mr. Provoost could not be con- 
sidered as greatly distinguished for his intel- 
lectual abilities, he ranked above the common 
order of clergymen, — and we certainly should 
have expected this, as he had enjoyed peculiar 
advantages for improvement. 

His chief attractions as a preacher consisted 
in a fine, imposing appearance, a good voice, 
and a happy command of language. He used 
little gesticulation, and his manner would not 
be considered very animated by those of the 
present generation, who are accustomed to a 
stirring and earnest delivery. 

In 1768, Mr. Provoost visited his wife's re- 
lations in Ireland, and upon his return to this 
country, hdrfound an unpleasant state of things 
existing among some of the parishioners of 
Trinity, which it is not altogether easy to ac- 
count for. 

Mr. Whitefield had been preaching in New 
York, and many persons had been captivated 
by his soul-stirring eloquence. Mr. Provoost 
was inclined to attribute the dislike to himself 
to the fact that he was not considered suffi- 
ciently evangelical, — while others suppose that 



EXTRACT FROM A LETTER. 39 

he showed too much sympathy with the colo- 
nies, in their disputes with England, to suit 
the views of the members of Trinity parish 
who took sides with the mother country. 

The following extract from a letter which 
he wrote about this time will serve to illus- 
trate his religious views and feelings : " I should 
think my situation perfectly agreeable, if it 
were not for the bigotry and enthusiasm that 
generally prevail here among people of all 
denominations. Even the Church, particu- 
larly the lower members of it, is not free from 
the general infection. As I found this to be 
the case, I made it a point to preach the plain 
doctrines of religion and morality in the man- 
ner I found them enforced by the most emi- 
nent divines of the Church of England. This 
brought an accusation against me by these 
people, that I was endeavoring to sap the 
foundations of Christianity, which they imag- 
ined to consist in the doctrines of absolute pre- 
destination and reprobation, placing such un- 
bounded confidence in the merits of Christ as 
to think their own endeavors quite unneces- 
sary, and not in the least available to salvation ; 
and consigning to everlasting destruction all 
who happen to differ from them in the most 
trivial matters. I was, however, happy enough 



40 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

to be supported by many of the principal per- 
sons of New York." 

We are sometimes very poor judges in cases 
where our own interests and happiness are 
concerned, and it is possible that Mr. Provoost 
did not discover the real cause of opposition to 
himself. While he was undoubtedly a man of 
extensive reading, amiable and benevolent in 
disposition, and prompt in the performance of 
every duty, yet his manner in the pulpit was 
far from being popular. Natural diffidence, 
which sometimes produced painful embarrass- 
ment, often affected it unfavorably ; and his 
anxiety to keep clear of any approach to reli- 
gious enthusiasm, diminished the interest and 
force of his instructions. 

And when we add to this, the position which 
he felt bound in conscience to assume, in re- 
gard to the difficulties which ended in the 
War of Independence, thus rendering himself 
offensive to the most influential portion of the 
parish, we have discovered two reasons why 
he became unpopular. 

Under all the circumstances of the case, Mr. 
Provoost thought it best to leave his post in 
Trinity Church ; and soon after taking this step 
he retired from the city, removing to a small 



TRINITY CHURCH DESTROYED. 41 

farm which he had purchased at East Camp, 
then in Dutches county, New York. 

The state of political affairs was becoming 
stormy enough. In August, 1776, a powerful 
British army came in ships to attack the city 
of NeWrYork, where Washington then had his 
headquarters. The Americans were obliged 
to leave the place, but the British troops had 
hardly taken possession of it before a fire acci- 
dentally broke out, by which nearly five hun- 
dred houses were consumed. Few of the 
inhabitants being left in the city to check the 
progress of the flames, they spread with alarm- 
ing rapidity. Trinity Church, the rector's 
house, and the charity school were reduced to 
ashes. St. Paul's Chapel and King's College 
would have shared the same fate, but for the 
prompt and energetic efforts of Mr. Inglis, 
who sent a number of persons on the roof with 
buckets of water to protect them. 

This disastrous fire occurred on the 21st of 

September. 

4* 



CHAPTER FIFTH. 

Why East Camp was chosen as a place of refuge-*How Mr. 
Provcost passed his time — Various honorable appointments 
offered to him — His reasons given for declining them — Calls 
to several parishes — Endurance of poverty and privation — 
Selling furniture and other expedients — Anecdote of the Kev- 
olution — Almost a fighting parson — End of the war — The 
British troops leave New York — Eejoicings upon the return of 
the American forces — Gleams of hope for Mr. Provoost. 

j?f JKT selecting East Camp as a quiet resting- 
place until the close of the war, Mr. 
Provoost was influenced, in some degree, 
by its being in the neighborhood of the 
Livingston families. Walter and Rob- 
ert Cambridge Livingston had been 
fellow-students with him at the English uni- 
versity. 

While the fierce and long-continued con- 
test was going on, Mr. Provoost remained in 
perfect retirement, devoting his time to liter- 
ary pursuits, for which he had a great taste. 
Had he been a private citizen, instead of a 
clergyman, he would have proved himself a 
valiant soldier in the cause of independence. 
His political sentiments were well known, 




DECLINES VARIOUS APPOINTMENTS. 43 

although he took no active part, and his name 
was placed at the head of a list of those who 
were to be delegates to the Provincial Con- 
gress ; but he very properly declined to serve. 
When the convention which formed the first 
constitution of the State of New York, met at 
Kingston in 1777, Mr. Provoost was elected 
chaplain. He refused to accept the appoint- 
ment, assigning the following reasons for so 
doing : " In the beginning of the present war, 
when each province was endeavoring to unite 
the more effectually to oppose the tyranny of 
the British court, I remarked with great con- 
cern, that all the Church clergy in these 
northern States, who received salaries from the 
society, or emoluments from England, were 
unanimous in opposing the salutary measures 
of a vast majority of their countrymen ; so 
great a harmony among the people in their 
particular circumstances pretty clearly con- 
vinced me that some, at least, were biassed by 
interested motives. As I entertained political 
opinions diametrically opposite to those of my 
brethren, I was apprehensive that a profession 
of these opinions might be imputed to merce- 
nary views, and an ungenerous desire of rising 
on their ruin. To obviate any suspicions of 
this kind, I formed a resolution never to accept 



44 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

of any preferment during the present contest ; 
although as a private person I have been, and 
shall always be, ready to encounter any danger 
that may be incurred in the defence of our in- 
valuable rights and liberties." 

The same motives which led him to decline 
the appointments before mentioned, made him 
refuse a call to the rectorship of St. Michael's 
Church, Charleston, South Carolina, which 
was tendered him in 1777, and another, in 
1782, to take charge of King's Chapel, Boston. 

Had Mr. Provoost been a man of fortune, it 
would have required no great sacrifice on his 
part to remain firm to his principles, as ex- 
pressed in the communication given before ; 
but it w T ill be seen from the letter which fol- 
lows, that this was far from being the case : 

" I have no salary or income of any kind, 
the estate which formerly supported me having 
been in the hands of the enemy ever since they 
took possession of the city of New York. The 
place on which I live is so far from maintain- 
ing* my family, that I am now in debt for the 
greatest part of the w T heat they have consumed 
since the beginning of the war. Besides selling 
part of my furniture, etc., and running in debt 
for various necessaries, I have, from time to 
time, borrowed money of my friends to consid- 



ALMOST A FIGHTING PARSON. 45 

erable amount. My mother and family are 
refugees from the city, and nearly in the same 
situation with myself; and I am prevented by 
the constitution of the State, and canons of the 
Church, from entering into any secular em- 
ployment." 

The son-in-law of Bishop Provoost, the late 
Hon. Cadwallader D. Colden, has recorded the 
following interesting anecdote, which belongs 
to this period of his life : 

a When the British fleet ascended the Hud- 
son River, and burnt Esopus, after they had 
set fire to Judge Livingston's house, which was 
but a little way below Mr. Provoost's farm, a 
detachment of soldiers from the fleet w r as ob- 
served approaching the shore not far from Mr. 
Provoost's dwelling. He and a number of his 
neighbors armed themselves, with a hope that 
they might defend their property. The sol- 
diers were seen to land and leave their boat in 
charge of a guard of two or three men. It was 
immediately proposed by the armed citizens to 
surprise the guard and destroy the boat, which 
would insure, with the force that could soon be 
raised in the country, the capture of the whole 
detachment. With this design, Mr. Provoost 
and his party crept along the river, concealed 
by the rocks and bushes till they got so near 



4:6 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

the boat as to be on the point of executing 
their design, when, to their great disappoint- 
ment, the soldiers who had left the shore met 
with something which hastened their return, 
and the reverend gentleman and his associates 
were glad to keep themselves hid, not without 
fears that they would be discovered. If this 
had happened, they certainly would have been 
the captured instead of the captors ; and very 
probably would not have been very easily ex- 
changed, as the British officers might have 
chosen to exhibit in England a rebel fighting- 
parson as a curiosity."* 

Mr. Provoost remained upon his farm in 
Dutchess county for fourteen years, from 1770 
to 1784. His patient endurance of poverty 
and privation gained for him the reputation, 
with the American party, of a patriot clergy- 
man, and almost a martyr. 

At last the war of Independence was brought 
to a close, and, in 1783, a treaty of peace be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States was 
signed. On the 25th of November, the English 
troops left the city of New York. It w T as a 
clear and brilliant morning, cold and frosty, 
when the American soldiers, commanded by 

* Evergreen, vol. i. p. 195. 



THE BRITISH LEAVE NEW YORK. 4:7 

General Knox, marched to the Bowery Lane, 
and halted at the present junction of Third 
Avenue and the Bowery. 

" There they remained until about one o'clock 
in the afternoon, when the British left their 
posts in that vicinity and marched to White- 
hall. The American troops followed, and be- 
fore three o'clock General Knox took formal 
possession of Fort George amid the acclama- 
tions of thousands of emancipated freemen, 
and the roar of artillery upon the Battery. 
"Washington repaired to his quarters at the 
spacious tavern of Samuel Fraunce, and there, 
during the afternoon, Governor Clinton gave a 
public dinner to the officers of the army, and in 
the evening the town was brilliantly illumin- 
ated. Rockets shot up from many private dwel- 
lings, and bonfires blazed at every corner."* 

A friend of Mr. Provoost's writes to him 
from New York city, under the date Decem- 
ber 3d, 1783, as follows : 

" I have to congratulate you most cordially 
at the happy alteration in affairs here. Gen- 
eral Washington, with the American army, 
entered last Tuesday amid the joyful acclama- 
tions of thousands, with such decorum that no 

* Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. ii. p. 838. 



48 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

riot or disturbance ensued, as was expected. 
The Tories who stayed behind on the embarka- 
tion of the British remained quiet within their 
dwellings, and are still unmolested. 

" We have lately had two dreadful alarms, 
first w T ith a conflagration which destroyed the 
brewhouse and buildings of Aunt Rutgers, and 
burnt the roof of our large red store, and lastly, 
with a severe shock of an earthquake which 
happened on Saturday night. No evil effects 
were the consequence of the latter in this city, 
but at Philadelphia many stacks of chimneys 
were thrown down. You have a very strong 
party here, who will spare no exertions for you. 
They even talk of making you Bishop of New 
York, on the same footing that the Rev. Mr. 
Smith has lately been appointed Bishop of 
Maryland. This is the universal topic. In 
short, I am as sure that something very hand- 
some will be done for you as I am of my own 
existence. There is to be a public meeting of 
the Whig Episcopalians this evening by notifi- 
cation. It is generally imagined that your name 
will be mentioned in their debates." 



CHAPTER SIXTH. 

Trinity Church during the Kevolution — Dr. Inglis resigns the 
Rectorship — The Eev. Benjamin Moore appointed his suc- 
cessor — A new scene opens — Vexed questions, and difficulties 
not a few — " Council" appointed by the Legislature — Changes 
effected in the affairs of Trinity Church — The election of Mr. 
Moore declared null and void — Mr. Provoost chosen Eector — 
His return to the city — Eecovers his property — Exercise of 
hospitality — Appointed Eegent of the State University — Ee- 
moval of Congress to New York city — Mr. Provoost elected 
Chaplain — The authority of Congress in those days — Adop- 
tion of our present Constitution. 

TTRING the greater part of the Revo- 
lutionary war, the rectorship of Trin- 
ity Church, New York, had been held 
by the Rev. Dr. Inglis, and he occu- 
pied this position at its close. Being 
unwilling to sever his connection with 
England and transfer his allegiance to the new 
republic, he resigned his charge on the first of 
November, 1783, and returned home with the 
British army. 

The Rev. Benjamin Moore, who had been 
serving as an assistant minister for several 
years, was now chosen rector of Trinity 
Church. " A new scene soon opened upon the 

5 




50 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

parish. On the memorable November 25th, 
1783, the independence of our country having 
been acknowledged by England, the British 
troops evacuated this city. Those friendly to 
the American cause, who had long been exiled 
from their homes here, returned. An entirely 
new state of society was introduced. Those in 
whose hands affairs in the several civil and 
ecclesiastical departments had been, were di- 
minished in number by the removal to the 
British dominions of many who had opposed 
the Revolution, and continued to own alle- 
giance to the mother country. Between those 
of this class who remained, and those favorable 
to the Revolution, who returned to their old 
homes in the city after years of suffering exile, 
and finding great injury done to their property 
here during what they regarded as its unjust 
possession by an enemy, it of course is natu- 
rally to be supposed that there could not, as a 
general thing, be any very cordial feeling of 
confidence and esteem. Yexed questions might 
be expected to arise between them on a variety 
of issues hard to be settled. Things requiring 
mutual co-operation between parties thus re- 
lated, would be very likely to be injuriously 
neglected, or entangled with fictitious diffi- 
culties. 



THE STATE LEGISLATURE. 51 

" It was natural for the Legislature, as 
guardian of the public welfare, to feel anxious 
as to the faithful holding and use of trusts, if 
left in the hands of those who might, not un- 
reasonably, until time was allowed to prove 
them, be supposed capable of feeling a hos- 
tility to the then present state of things, — not 
an unnatural product of the view taken by 
some, that the Revolution was but a success- 
ful rebellion. 

" The fact is, that under the then existing 
circumstances, the Legislature of the State had 
deemed it their duty to appoint a council for 
the temporary government of the southern 
parts of the State, whenever the enemy shall 
abandon or be dispossessed of the same, until 
the Legislature can be convened." " This 
council," says the Documentary History of the 
State of New York, "had been vested with al- 
most dictatorial power," — a very reasonable 
alternative, considering the confused and anom- 
alous state of things in which it was to act, and 
the promptness with which it must, in many 
cases, have been necessary for action to be 
had. 

" The members of the Church who had con- 
tinued true to the American cause, and now re- 
turned to their old homes in New York, were 



52 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

not satisfied with the then recent appointment, 
as rector, of a gentleman who had been un- 
friendly to that cause ; or to the continuance 
in office of wardens and vestrymen of whom it 
could hardly be expected, with any certainty, 
that they would manage the affairs of the cor- 
poration, considered in its civil capacity, as 
true-hearted American citizens. After an un- 
successful appeal to the vestry, 'to endeavor 
to induce them to adopt such measures as 
might produce an amicable arrangement,' they 
appealed to the above-mentioned ' council.' 
This body was addressed by eminent lawyers, 
on both sides. The result was such an exercise 
of the powers granted them by the Legislature, 
as led them to vest the temporalities of Trinity 
Church in nine trustees — St. George's and St. 
Paul's Chapels (the parish church being in 
ruins), as well as all other property; which 
trustees invited Mr. Provoost to officiate in 
those chapels. The invitation was accepted. 
The council also ordered a new election of 
wardens and vestrymen, which resulted in the 
choice of gentlemen friendly to the newdy es- 
tablished order of things. This vestry unani- 
mously elected Mr. Provoost rector of the 
parish ; acting upon the principle avowed by 
the council, that the late election of Mr. Moore 



MR. PROVOOST RECOVERS HIS PROPERTY. 53 

was, under the circumstances of the case, null 
and void."* 

A deputation was sent to Mr. Provoost, re- 
questing him to accept the office. He consent- 
ed to do so, and he soon afterwards returned, 
with his family, to the city. 

Mr. Provoost now recovered his property, 
of which he had been deprived during the 
war ; and this, together with his revenue from 
the Church and his farm, relieved him from 
all pecuniary difficulties, and enabled him to 
exercise that generous hospitality for which he 
was distinguished. * 

In 1784 he was appointed a Regent of the 
University of the State ; and in November of 
the following year, Congress having removed 
from Trenton to New York, he was elected 
chaplain. 

The general government of the country had 
been carried on since 1776 by the authority of 
Congress, which body had then the exclusive 
right to declare war, conclude peace, borrow 
funds, issue bills of credit, and make requisi- 
tions upon the States for men and money. 

Our present constitution was not adopted 
until July 14th, 1788. 

* Churchman's Magazine, vol. i. p. 338. 
5* 



CHAPTER SEVENTH. 

No Church organization as yet — Efforts towards securing this 
desirable end — Bishop Seabury's consecration — The action 
of Churchmen in the several States outside of Connecticut — 
Our Federal government considered as a model — The Epis- 
copal Church shown to be in strictest harmony with our civil 
institutions — John Adams, and his exertions to secure the 
Episcopate for the Church in America — Applications to vari- 
ous countries — Satisfactory arrangements made at last — Mr. 
Provoost chosen Bishop — Sails for England. 

S yet, the Episcopal Church in the 
United States consisted merely of con- 
gregations scattered about through the 
several cities and towns and rural dis- 
tricts — some with pastors, but very 
many without, and having no tie to 
bind them together, except the com- 
mon bond of brotherhood and union in the 
faith. 

No sooner, however, had our political inde- 
pendence been gained, than vigorous efforts 
were made by those who loved the Church, to 
do something to further her interests. 

As we have traced the several steps which 
were taken, in completing the necessary ar- 




bishop seabuey's consecration. 55 

rangements for her organization and govern- 
ment, in tlie Lives of Bishops Seabury and 
White, we must refer our readers to those 
little volumes for the particulars of this im- 
portant work. 

The Eev. Samuel Seabury was consecrated 
Bishop of Connecticut, at Aberdeen, by three 
Bishops of the Scottish Church, on the 14th of 
November, 1784. 

Meanwhile, a few clergymen of New York, 
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, had met at 
New Brunswick, New Jersey, in May of the 
same year, and this was followed by another 
meeting, held in New York in October. 

Thus far, a few general principles had been 
agreed upon to be recommended in the several 
States, as the basis on which the government 
of the American Church might be afterwards 
established. In making the general outlines 
of this government, the Federal Constitution of 
our country was kept in view as a model, — 
the State Conventions occupying the place of 
the State Legislatures, and the General Con- 
vention answering to the Congress of the United 
States.* 

* " The government of the Church is purely republican. It is 
strikingly analogous to that of the Municipal, State, and General 
Government in this country. I cannot better describe it than 



56 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

A third meeting assembled at Philadelphia 
in September, 1785, in which seven of the thir- 
teen United States were represented. 

by giving a brief outline of its practical operation. A number 
of laymen meet together and organize a parish, by the choice of 
two wardens and a board of vestrymen. To them is commit- 
ted the management of all the temporal affairs of the parish. 
The members of the parish choose their own minister. Once 
a year, on Easter Monday, parish meetings are held for the 
choice of wardens and vestrymen, who answer to the board of 
selectmen or town council ; and for the election of delegates 
to the Diocesan Conventions. These lay delegates, with the 
ministers of the several parishes, meet annually in convention. 
The Bishop presides, but has no other voice than that of a 
presiding officer. The clergy and laity assemble together, but 
form, in fact, two distinct houses ; and when it is so required 
by any delegation, they must vote separately. In such a case 
there must be a concurrence of both Orders, the clerical and the 
lay. Thus the laity represent the House of Kepresentatives in 
our State Legislature ; the clergy, the Senate ; and the Bishop, 
the Governor. This Diocesan Convention appoint a standing 
committee, consisting of three laymen and three clergymen, 
who are a Council of Advice to the Bishop. The Bishop has 
no right to ordain a Deacon or a Priest until the consent and 
recommendation of this committee is first obtained. This com- 
mittee answers to the Governor's Council. The State, or Dio- 
cesan Convention, choose four clergymen and four laymen to 
represent the Diocese, or State, in the General Convention. 
This General Convention meets once in three years, and con- 
sists of like delegations from every diocese in the Union where 
the Church has an organization. The Bishops of the Church 
meet by themselves, and answer to the Senate of the United 
States. The clerical and lay deputies meet together, and or- 
ganize by choosing one of their number as president. Both 
laity and clergy commonly vote together ; but if the delegation 
of any diocese require it, the vote must be taken, i. e., the 



JOHN ADAMS. 57 

Mr. Provoost was appointed chairman of a 
committee to draft an Ecclesiastical Constitu- 
tion, and to make the necessary alterations in 
the Prayer-book. 

All this time, Connecticut was enjoying the 
services of a Bishop, while the other States 
were still hoping that the English Church 
would listen to their petitions to grant them 
the succession ; but various difficulties, grow- 
ing out of the union of Church and State, made 
this delay most painful and discouraging. 

" Shortly after this period, intelligence was 
received that the Episcopacy could be obtained 
from one of the European Continental powers. 
It seems that Mr. John Adams, then our am- 
bassador at the court of St. James, had gone 
over to Holland, and in a letter to the Presi- 
dent of Congress, dated the Hague, April 22, 



clergy and laity voting separately, there must be a concurrence 
of both Orders, or the vote is not carried. A measure must 
have the concurrence of the House of Bishops before it can 
become a law. The influence of the laity in the legislation of 
the Church may be seen by this illustration : If a measure 
should pass the House of Bishops by a unanimous vote, and, 
coming to the lower house, should receive the vote of every 
clergyman, and then should be lost by one majority on the part 
ot the laity, it could not become a law. Such is the organiza- 
tion of our National Ecclesiastical Congress, which commonly 
embraces many of the ablest men in the Church." — Db. Ean- 
d all's Pitts-street Chapel Lecture. 



58 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

1784, he says : ' I received, some time since, a 
letter from an American gentleman, now in 
London, a candidate for Orders, desiring to 
know if American candidates might have Or- 
ders from Protestant Bishops on the Continent, 
and complaining that he had been refused by 
the Bishop of London, unless he w r ould take 
the oaths of allegiance, &c.' 

" Mr. Adams applied to Mr. de St. Saphorin, 
the Danish ambassador, to know whether con- 
secration might be obtained in Denmark : this 
Mr. de St. Saphorin sent to his court, by which 
it was referred to the Theological Faculty of 
Denmark, and their answer was communicated 
by Count Rosencrone, Privy Councillor of the 
King of Denmark, to Mr. de St. Saphorin, and 
by him to Mr. Adams, in a letter which was 
as follows : 

" 'The opinion of the Theological Faculty 
having been taken on the question made to 
your Excellency by Mr. Adams, if the Ameri- 
can ministers of the Church of England can 
be consecrated here by Bishops of the Danish 
Church, — I am ordered by the king to author- 
ize you to answer, that such an act can take 
place according to the Danish rites; but for 
the convenience of the Americans who are 
supposed not to know the Danish language, 



JOHN ADAMS THE EPISCOPACY. 59 

the Latin tongue will be made use of on the 
occasion : for the rest, nothing will be exacted 
from the candidates but a profession conform- 
able to the Articles of the English Church, 
omitting the oath called the test, which pre- 
vents their being ordained by the English 
Bishops.' 

" This answer was transmitted by Mr. Adams 
to the United States office of Foreign Affairs, 
and by the Secretary of State to Governor 
George Clinton, and by him sent to Mr. Pro- 
voost. But the friends of the Church in New 
York, with their friends in the States south of 
it, were not satisfied to accept this offer of the 
Danish government, any more than they were 
content with an Episcopacy that could, be pro- 
cured in Scotland (as to the latter, it proved to 
be valid) ; they therefore exerted themselves 
to obtain an act of the British Parliament 
authorizing the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
York to consecrate foreign bishops, and re- 
moving the objections which persons not in 
allegiance to the King of Great Britain must 
have had to the English forms. In their efforts 
in this respect the friends of the Church seem 
to have been very fortunate in obtaining the 
co-operation of the high officers of the govern- 
ment of the United States, who appear to have 



60 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

taken considerable interest in this subject — 
particularly John Adams and Richard Henry 
Lee, to whom the State Convention (June 12, 
1786) returned thanks for the interest those 
gentlemen had taken in procuring the Epis- 
copate."* 

The members of the Convention of the Dio- 
cese of New York having chosen Mr. Provoost 
for their Bishop, he was requested to proceed 
to England for consecration, provision being 
made to defray the expenses of the voyage. 
Three weeks after his election he was honored 
with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the 
University of Pennsylvania. 

Virginia and Pennsylvania were not behind 
New York in their anxiety for the proper or- 
ganization of the Church ; and the former had 
chosen Dr. David Griffith, and the latter Dr. 
William "White, to preside over the affairs of 
those dioceses. 

The testimonials of those three clergymen 
were signed by the members of the General 
Convention, held at Wilmington, Delaware, on 
the 11th of October. 

Dr. Provoost, and his friend Dr. White, 
sailed from New York on the 2d of November, 

* Evergreen, vol. i. p. 196. 



SAILS FOR ENGLAND. 61 

1786r Dr. Griffith of Virginia would gladly 
have gone with them, but poverty presented 
an obstacle which he was not able to sur- 
mount, and he was not furnished with means 
for the purpose.* 

* See Dr. Hawks' History of Church in Virginia, p. 200* 
6 



CHAPTER EIGHTH. 

Short and safe passage — Arrival at London — Kindness of Mr. 
Adams — Tedious delay — Letter from Dr. Provoost — Makes 
the acquaintance of several Bishops — Meeting some old friends 
— Kind attentions — The widow Jebb — The old Bishop of 
Carlisle — "Cold, fat goose-pie" — Glimpse of the king — All 
arrangements ended — Bird's-eye view of Lambeth — Solemn 
ceremonial — Signing the certificates — What the reader will 
hardly believe. 

HE good packet-ship, with her pre- 
cious burden, plowed safely on her 
way, and after a passage of eighteen 
days (the shortest then known), Doc- 
tors Provoost and White arrived at 
Falmouth. They proceeded at once 
to London, where they were introduced to Dr. 
John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, by . 
Mr. Adams, the American minister to the court 
of St. James. 

" In this particular" (says Bishop White, in 
his Memoirs of the Church), " and in every 
instance in which his personal attentions could 
be either of use or an evidence of his respect 
and kindness, he continued to manifest his con- 




LETTER FROM DR. PROYOOST. 63 

cern for the interests of a churcli of which he 
was not a member." 

Some delay in the consecration of the 
Bishops elect from America, was occasioned 
by the desire of the Archbishop to lay before 
the English Bishops — then generally absent 
from London in their several Dioceses, and not 
expected to return until the meeting of Par- 
liament, about the middle of January — the 
ground of his proceedings. 

Early in the beginning of the new year, Dr. 
Provoost thus writes to his wife at New York : 

" Parliament- street, London, January 3, 1787. 

"My dear Maria — It is with real satisfac- 
tion that I inclose, for your perusal, a most 
affectionate letter from your brother, which I 
answered immediately, and consequently ex- 
pect him in London in a few days. I was in 
hopes our business would have been completely 
finished before the sailing of this packet ; and 
the not knowing how soon we might have 
been called upon by the Archbishop for con- 
secration, kept me so constantly in London, 
that I have not yet paid a visit to my friends 
in Cambridge. We were introduced to the 
Bishops of London and Oxford a day or two 
after my writing to you, and the latter in- 



64 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

formed us that he had seen the Archbishop, 
who was perfectly satisfied with our testimo- 
nials. We dined lately with his Grace, and 
before we parted he told us that he waited for 
the coming of some more Bishops, to consult 
with them concerning the mode of our conse- 
cration. I regret this delay, but as they will 
certainly be in town before the Queen's birth- 
day, which is the 18th, I still firmly believe 
that we shall be in time for the February 
packet. The only company we had at the 
Archbishop's was Dr. and Mrs. Lort, and Dr. 
Inglis. You remember spending an afternoon 
with Dr. Lort, when he was Greek professor 
at Cambridge. The Archbishop is very polite, 
but neither inquisitive nor communicative. 
Mrs. Moore appears to be a very amiable 
woman. Mrs. Lort, who was of Cambridge, 
and an acquaintance of Miss Donovan, made 
many polite inquiries concerning you and 
family. 

" It is imagined that a Bishop will soon be 
appointed for Nova Scotia, but whether Dr. 
Inglis will be the man or not is yet uncertain. 
Let your daughter inform Miss Inglis that I 
dined last Sunday with her papa, brother, and 
sister at Mr. Duche's, in the Asylum. The 
sister is really pretty, and the brother one of 



LETTER FROM DR. PROVOOST. 65 

the smartest boys for his years I ever met with. 
Mr. Duche and family could not have treated 
us with more kindness and attention if we had 
been the nearest relations. Apropos, — Mr. 
Duche has a daughter about the age of Maria, 
who had been a long time afflicted with ner- 
vous complaints, and the same kind of swell- 
ings in the neck with which you are troubled, 
but she has received the greatest relief, and is 
now nearly cured, by the constant eating the 
dried leaves of hemlock upon her bread and 
butter. By the by, hemlock must be used 
with great precaution, and in a small quantity 
upon the first trials. 

"My good friends Adair and Wilson are in 
very flourishing situations. Adair, besides his 
office of recorder, has a multiplicity of business 
as a lawyer. Wilson has been knighted, and 
since our arrival has been made a judge. This 
appointment has given universal satisfaction, 
as he owes it neither to solicitation nor party, 
but, what is very uncommon here, entirely to 
his own merit. 

" The widow of my dear old tutor Jebb has 
been very ill, and looks indeed like a widow\ 

" The old Bishop of Carlisle is still living, 
and though eighty-seven years of age, the 
Archbishop told me he saw him at the last 



66 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

meeting of Parliament going to make his din- 
ner of a cold, fat goose-pie, too luscious for the 
stomach of his Grace. 

" The Bishop of Llandaff is come to town, and 
paid us a very friendly visit yesterday morn- 
ing. He was surprised our business was not 
concluded, and I am convinced will use his 
endeavors to accelerate it. 

" The English papers have been premature 
in announcing our consecration. I expected 
we should have been the subject of frequent 
witticisms, but the following paragraph, which 
appeared in the Herald, is the only one I have 
met with : 

" 'The ordination of the two American 
Bishops is an event concerning which the 
■universities have formed strange conjectures. 
These new Bight Beverends will, in the Ameri- 
can device, restore the primitive fathers, and 
distinguish themselves by stripes.' 

" Mrs. Henry White has lost her husband, 
and proposes returning to America. As you, 
no doubt, often see my worthy friend the 
Mayor, and communicate to him the intelli- 
gence I send to you, I don't trouble him with 
a letter. Tou will conclude, from the annexed 
list of engagements, that I lead a desultory 
life, not quite congenial to my natural disposi- 



a week's engagements. 67 

tion. To-day, being Wednesday, at Mrs. 
Johnson's, aunt to Mr. Hopkinson of Philadel- 
phia ; on Thursday, to Mr. Robert Barclay ; 
Friday, to Mr. Kemp ; Saturday, to the 
Bishop of Llandaff ; Sunday, to the Recorder ; 
Monday, to Dr. Jackson, prebend of West- 
minster ; Tuesday, to Mr. D. Barclay. My 
paper being just filled, I must conclude with 
my sincere regards to my mother and brethren 
of every description, and love to the children. 
" I remain, my dear Maria, with the most 
ardent wishes for our speedy meeting, 

" Your most affectionate husband, 

"Samuel Provoost." 

The venerable Archbishop did all in his 
power to render the delay as little irksome to 
the American clergymen as possible, and we 
have one evidence of it in the following note, 
found among the papers of Bishop Provoost, 
which have been kindly placed in our hands : 

" The Archbishop of Canterbury informs 
Drs. White and Provoost, that his Majesty sets 
out from St. James's to-day at half an hour af- 
ter two ; that if they are at the House of Lords 
at that time, he apprehends there will be no 
difficulty about their admittance. But at all 



68 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

events, he will be there at a quarter before 
three, and take them in, if they are not al- 
ready admitted." 

The two American clergymen were presented 
to King George III., who gave them a yery 
kind reception. 

An act of Parliament having been passed 
authorizing the measure, the 4th of February 
was fixed as the day for the consecration. 
This was Septuagesima Sunday. The place 
was the chapel of the archiepiscopal palace at 
Lambeth. " Its dingy brick, and solemn little 
windows," remarks the Rev. Dr. A. C. Coxe, in 
his beautiful volume of English travels, " with 
the reverend ivy spreading everywhere about 
its walls, seemed to have the decent and comely 
spirit of religion itself; and we could almost 
gather the true character of the Church of 
England from a single glance at this old eccle- 
siastical palace, amid the stirring and splendid 
objects with which it is surrounded. Old, and 
yet not too old ; retired, and yet not estranged 
from men ; learned, and yet domestic ; reli- 
gious, yet nothing ascetic ; and dignified, with- 
out pride or ostentation ; — such is the ideal of 
the metropolitical palace on the margin of the 
Thames. I thought, as I glided by, of the time 



LAMBETH PALACE. 69 

when Henry stopped his barge just here to 
take in Archbishop Cramner, and give him a 
taste of his royal displeasure ; and of the time 
when Laud entered his barge at the same 
place to go by water to the Tower, ' his poor 
neighbors of Lambeth following him with 
their blessings and prayers for his safe return.' 
They knew his better part."* 

But we must enter the palace with those 
who passed its gates on the 4th of February, 
1787. We go on, through winding passages, 
until we reach the oldest part of the irregular 
and extensive pile — which is the chapel. It 
consists of two apartments, divided by a richly 
ornamented screen, and measuring together 
seventy-two feet in length by twenty-five in 
breadth. The height of the ceiling is thirty 
feet. Although every thing about us is so 
plain and simple, we feel that we are standing 
on holy ground. 

A most important transaction is about to 
take place. Two Bishops are to be conse- 
crated for the New World. The venerable 
Archbishop Moore is presiding. We will learn 
the names of the Bishops who are to assist 



* Impressions of England, page 38. There are two views of 
Lambeth in the Penny Magazine for 1832, p. 260 and p. 3M» 



70 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

him when they come to sign the certificates 
of consecration. 

Morning Prayer and the sermon ended, the 
solemn Office of Consecration begins. The 
searching questions are asked, and answered ; 
earnest prayers are offered ; the candidates are 
kneeling now. Then the Bishops lay their 
hands upon their heads, and the venerable 
Archbishop says : " Receive the Holy Ghost, 
for the office and work of a Bishop in the 
Church of God, now committed unto thee by 
the imposition of our hands : In the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir 
up the grace of God, which is given thee by 
this imposition of our hands ; for God hath not 
given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and 
love, and soberness." 

When all was over, the Bishops retired to 
the vestry-room ; and two great sheets of parch- 
ment having been spread iipon a table, Arch- 
bishop Moore signs the certificates of consecra- 
tion ; and then William Markham, Archbishop 
of York, Charles Moss, Bishop of Bath and 
Wells, and John Hinchcliffe, Bishop of Peter- 
borough, add their names also. The large seal 
of the Archbishop is appended below. Last 
of all, William Dickes, secretary to the Arch- 



CERTIFICATE OF CONSECRATION. 71 

bishop of Canterbury, attests that these signa- 
tures have been made in his presence. 

The author has this very certificate of Bishop 
Provoost's consecration lying on his writing- 
table now. 



CHAPTER NINTH. 

A great object accomplished — Preparations for returning to 
America— Dr. Inglis in London — A kind letter — Departure 
from Falmouth — Long and boisterous passage — Sea-sickness 
■ — Arrival at New York on Easter-day — Bishop Provoost wel- 
comed by his Convention — Address of the Eev. Abraham 
Beach — The Bishop's reply — God's blessing invoked. 



E 




^AYINGr accomplished the great object 
which had brought them to England, 
Bishops Provoost and White made 
all haste to return home. Our read- 
ers will remember Dr. Inglis, who re- 
signed the rectorship of Trinity Church, 
New York, at the close of the Revolution.* 
This was the same gentleman whom Dr. 
Provoost met with soon after his arrival in 
London. The day after the consecration of 
the American Bishops, he addresses this kind 
note to Dr. Provoost : 

" Monday Morning, February 5, 1787. 

" My dear Sir — I do assure you I was not 
a little mortified in being prevented by my 

* He became Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1787. We have already 
collected many valuable materials for his biography. 



DR. INGLIs's NOTE TO DR. PROVOOST. 73 

lameness from attending at your consecration, 
and that of Dr. White, yesterday ; and from 
congratulating yon both on the occasion, which 
I now do most sincerely, and fervently pray 
that the great Shepherd and Bishop of the 
Church may direct and prosper the endeavors 
of you both for the promoting of true religion, 
and the support of our depressed Church in 
America. 

" It was my full intention to have called on 
you this morning with my two children, that 
you might see them, and give an account of 
them to their sister at New York; but my 
ankle still continues to be so much swelled and 
inflamed that I cannot possibly stir out. My 
little boy, John, was in town, and I send him 
with this as the representative of the whole. 
The several letters from my children and my- 
self to our friends in New York, I have put 
under one cover, directed to Mr. Ellison, as it 
will lessen your trouble. 

" You will not, I presume, set out for Fal- 
mouth till after dinner ; suppose then that you 
and Dr. White were to come and take a family 
dinner with me. You may have it at any hour 
you choose. It will be extremely pleasing to 
me, and I could mention some particulars 
which I wish to communicate, and have not 

7 



74: LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

time to write down. But if hurry should pre- 
vent this, give my love to Dr. White. I sin- 
cerely wish you and him a safe voyage, and a 
speedy sight of your friends. Give my best 
compliments to Mrs. Provoost, and my good 
old friends at New York, whom I often think 
of with affection and esteem ; not excepting 
even those in whose conduct there might have 
been some appearance of unkindness. 

"Sincerely wishing you health and happi- 
ness, I am most affectionately yours, 

"Charles Inglis. 

"Eight Eevekend Dr. Provoost." 

Time was pressing. The two Bishops had 
to decline many urgent invitations extended to 
them by English friends. And on the even- 
ing of the day next succeeding their consecra- 
tion, Bishops White and Provoost left London 
for Falmouth, which they reached on the 10th 
of the month. They were there detained by 
contrary winds (no steamships then) until 
Sunday 18th, when they embarked ; and after 
a voyage of seven weeks, during which Bishop 
Provoost was so ill that it was feared he would 
not live, they arrived in New York, the 
Bishop having happily recovered, on Easter 
day, April 8th. 



ADDRESS OF THE CONVENTION. 75 

Bishop Provoost had every reason to be 
gratified with his reception, as he was cor- 
dially greeted by his fellow-citizens of all de- 
nominations. 

The first Convention of his Diocese, after his 
return, was held in St. Paul's Chapel, New 
York, in June, 1787, and consisted, besides 
himself, of six clergymen, and twenty-three 
lay deputies, representing seventeen parishes. 
He was then formally received in his new 
character by the Diocese, in the following 
address to him, in the name of the Convention, 
by its Secretary, the Rev. Abraham Beach : 

" Bight Reverend Sir — We, the clergy and 
laity, representatives of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, now assembled in Convention, 
beg leave to address you, on this solemn occa- 
sion, with sentiments of duty and unfeigned 
respect. 

" After having successfully accomplished the 
great object which you had in view, we con- 
gratulate you on your return to your native 
city, safe from the hazards of a long and tem- 
pestuous voyage, and in a great measure 
restored to health from a painful and danger- 
ous illness. 

"While we express, in terms of the warmest 



76 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

gratitude, the high obligations we are under 
to the English Bishops for their paternal in- 
terposition in our favor, we beg leave to pre- 
sent to you our hearty thanks for your com- 
pliance with our desires ; and thus, through 
many difficulties and sufferings, rendering 
our Church complete in all its parts. 

" This propitious event, so long and ardently 
wished for, forms an important era in the his- 
tory of our Church. We are now, by Divine 
Providence, placed in such a situation that a 
regular succession of the ministry may be con- 
tinued to us and our posterity, without being 
reduced to the necessity of applying to a dis- 
tant land. 

" Justly reposing the highest confidence in 
your integrity and piety, your love of peace 
and order, and in your unremitted endeavors 
for the advancement of true religion and vir- 
tue, we rejoice that the distinguished honor of 
filling one of the first Episcopal chairs in these 
United States hath been conferred on a char- 
acter so truly estimable ; and we trust that we, 
and those whom we represent, shall never fail 
to render you all due support, respect, and 
reverence. 

" May it graciously please the Almighty 
Ruler of the universe so to bless your minis- 



BISHOP PROVOOSt's REPLY. 77 

trations, that a firm foundation may be laid for 
the peace and prosperity of our Church, which 
shall remain unshaken to the latest ages. And 
may you, Eight Keverend Sir, long continue in 
the discharge of your sacred office, an example 
for our imitation, and an ornament to our holy 
religion ; and may we, and all those committed 
to your pastoral charge, derive from your min- 
istrations a benefit which w T ill be of everlasting 
duration : so that when we are called to answer 
for our actions, we may give an account with 
joy; and remain one flock, under one Shep- 
herd, Jesus Christ, the Bishop of our souls." 

To this the Bishop replied as follows : 

" Reverend and most dearly beloved — This 
affectionate address, your obliging congratula- 
tions on my return to my native city, and on 
the recovery of my health, and above all, your 
assurances of support in my ministrations, I 
receive with the utmost satisfaction and thank- 
fulness. 

"The object of my late mission being the 
independence of our Church, and a regular suc- 
cession of the ministry, was of such magnitude, 
that its happy accomplishment cannot fail of 
inspiring all its members with the highest 
gratitude to Almighty God, and to all who, 



78 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

under Him, have by their good offices contrib- 
uted to its success. To the English Bishops, 
particularly, we are under indelible obligations, 
and I cordially unite with you in a public tes- 
timony of their benevolent and paternal exer- 
tions in our favor. Whenever we shall reflect 
on this important era in the history of our 
church, they must be remembered with honor 
and reverence. Let us, my beloved friends, 
zealously strive to make due improvement of 
the spiritual privileges which we now enjoy. 
Let our faith be sincere, and our lives unblem- 
ished, as our doctrine and worship are pure and 
holy, and God will continue to shower down 
His blessings upon us and our Church with a 
bountiful hand. 

" May you, my Reverend Brethren, aided by 
His gracious Spirit, continue to be watchful 
shepherds of the flocks committed to your 
charge, and maintain the doctrines and disci- 
pline of this excellent Church with constancy 
and zeal, and at the same time with candor 
towards those who differ from us in religious 
opinions, that our moderation may be made 
manifest, and we may joyfully contribute to 
that peace, and love, and charity which are so 
strongly enforced in the Gospel of our blessed 
Redeemer. 



BISHOP PROVOOST's REPLY. 79 

" Deeply sensible of my own imperfections, 
I feel with solicitude the weight of the impor- 
tant office to which I am consecrated. I rely 
only on the grace of God to enable me to dis- 
charge my pastoral duties with fidelity, to be 
instrumental in promoting true religion and 
virtue, in governing this Church in peace and 
unanimity, and laying a sure foundation for its 
lasting prosperity ; that thus, through His 
divine protection, your expectation of my use- 
fulness may not be disappointed. 

" And now, unto God's gracious mercy and 
protection I commit you. The Lord bless you 
and keep you ! The Lord make His face to 
shine upon you ! The Lord lift up His coun- 
tenance upon you, and give you peace, both 
now and evermore !" 



CHAPTER TENTH. 

Early history of the Church in New York— Services in the old 
fort— Increase of the congregation — Colonel Fletcher's zealous 
efforts — Eoyal grant for the benefit of the Church — Honored 
names — Queen Anne's gift — The a Queen's farm," then and 
now — "The finest church in North America" — Choice of a 
clergyman — Mr. Vesey — Interesting particulars concerning 
him — The various rectors of Trinity Parish, to the days of 
Bishop Provoost — Prosperous condition of the Church. 

^T is time for us to be saying something 
about the history of the Church in the 
Diocese over which Dr. Provoost now 
began to exercise the authority of a 
Bishop. 

When we remember that the first 
settlers of New York were Dutch, we cannot 
be surprised at reading in Humphrey's history, 
that " no face of the Church of England" was 
seen there until the year 1693. 

An act was then passed, under the govern- 
ment of Colonel Fletcher, for maintaining 
Church clergymen, who were to be chosen by 
the respective vestries. 

The first regular services of the Episcopal 
Church, in the city of New York, were cele- 




SERVICE IN THE OLD FORT. 81 

# 

brated in a chapel erected in the old fort which 
stood near the Battery. 

The ministers of the Church of Holland had 
officiated in the same place while the Dutch 
had possession of the town. 

As the congregation which attended upon 
the Episcopal services increased, a larger build- 
ing was needed, but several years passed away 
before any steps were taken for its erection. 

" Colonel Fletcher, the newly appointed gov- 
ernor of the colony, was one of the first who 
moved in this business. As the greatest part 
of this province consisted of Dutch inhabitants, 
all the governors thereof, as well in the Duke 
of York's time as after the Revolution, thought 
it good policy to encourage English preachers 
and schoolmasters in the colony. For this 
commendable zeal, Colonel Fletcher has been 
reviled and denounced by Smith, one of the 
earliest writers of the history of New York, as 
a bigot to the Episcopal form of Church gov- 
ernment. But as he had declared, at a meet- 
ing of the Colonial Assembly, that he would 
take care that neither heresy, sedition, schism, 
nor rebellion should be preached among them, 
nor vice and profanity encouraged, so he 
earnestly labored to carry out his purposes to 
good effect. His measures were violently op- 



82 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

posed by many of the members, and even by 
some from whom a different course might have 
been reasonably expected. For it was at this 
session, on the 12th of April, 1695, that, upon 
a petition of five church-wardens and vestry- 
men of the city of New York, the house de- 
clared it to be their opinion that the vestrymen 
and church-wardens have power to call a dis- 
senting Protestant minister, and that he is to 
be paid and maintained as the act directs. 
This was a looseness of opinion on the part of 
the Episcopalians concerned, which must as- 
tonish sound Churchmen, and which would 
have been abundantly lax for the most latitu- 
dinarian among us at the present day. But 
through the juster notions of others, and the 
persevering zeal and firmness of the governor, 
things were soon put in a better train. 

" In the fifth year of the reign of William and 
Mary, 1697, by an act of Assembly, approved 
and ratified by and with the consent and au- 
thority of the governor of the province, a royal 
grant and confirmation were made of a certain 
church and steeple, lately built in the city of 
New York, together with a certain piece or 
parcel of ground adjoining thereunto, being in 
or near to a street without the north gate of 
the said city, commonly called and known by 



QUEEN ANNE S GIFJ\ 83 

the name of Broadway. The title which was 
given to the church by the original charter is 
the same which it bears at the present day, 
the Parish of Trinity Church. Means were 
appointed by it for the support of the Rector. 
The wardens and vestrymen were duly consti- 
tuted, and particularly named, comprising 
several members of his majesty's council, and, 
as it would seem, some of the most respectable 
inhabitants in the province. Among them were 
the names of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, an 
ancestor of Dr. Delancey, Bishop of the west- 
ern Diocese of New York ; of Emote, Clarke, 
Morris, Read, and Ludlow, so familiar to our 
ears at the present day. These, with the 
Bishop of London for their Rector, were es- 
tablished a body corporate and politic, with all 
the privileges and powers usually pertaining 
unto the same. This appointment of the 
Bishop of London as Rector, who could not 
actually fulfil the duties of the office, was a 
mere temporary arrangement, in order to pro- 
vide the corporation with a head, essential to 
its due organization, if not to its existence.""* 

Li 1705, during the reign of Queen Anne, a 
grant was made to the corporation of Trinity 

* Berrian's History of Trinity Church, p. 11. 



84 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST, 

Church of a tract of land, lying on the west 
side of Mannahata Island, and extending from 
St. Paul's Chapel northward, along the river, 
to what is now called Christopher-street. 

This land, then known as the Queen's Farm, 
and which was comparatively of little value, 
is at this day the very heart of the great city. 

Vigorous efforts were put forth for the build- 
ing of a church, and the people gave so liber- 
ally, that a sufficient sum was raised for erect- 
ing what was said to be " the finest church in 
North America." 

The next step was to find a clergyman, and 
the people were fortunate enough to persuade 
Mr. William Yesey, a man universally esteemed 
and beloved, to go to England for ordination. 
He embarked in the spring of 1697, and was 
ordained by Dr. Henry Compton, bishop of 
London, on the 16th of August of the same 
year. 

For fifty years Mr. Yesey continued to dis- 
charge the duties of Rector of Trinity Church ; 
and during the greater part of this time he 
was intrusted with the general oversight of 
the Church in the colony of New York, as the 
commissary of the Bishop of London. His 
whole course fully justified the wisdom of the 
choice which had been made of him. He was 



MR. VESEY TRINITY PARISH. 85 

an excellent preacher, and most active and 
laborious as a pastor. 

" He was engaged, too, in some earnest and 
protracted controversies, which must have put 
in requisition all his mental force, and dis- 
turbed not a little some of his social relations. 
But he seems to have been a man of an enter- 
prising and resolute spirit, who never shrunk 
from any responsibility which he thought was 
legitimately devolved upon him. He was aided 
not a little in his labors by schoolmasters and 
catechists, which were provided by the Venera- 
ble Society ; and had also as assistants, at dif- 
ferent periods, the Rev. Robert Jenny, Rev. 
James Wetmore, Rev. Thomas Colgan, and 
Rev. Robert Charlton."* 

Upon the death of Mr. Yesey, the Rev. 
Henry Barclay, then missionary at Albany and 
to the Mohawk Indians, was elected his suc- 
cessor. This was in 1746. 

In July, 1752, St. George's Chapel was 
opened for divine service. 

The affairs of Trinity parish were now in a 
very prosperous condition. During the space 
of one year (from 1763 to 1764) one -hundred 
and thirty-seven couples were married, and 



* Sprague's Annals, vol. v. p. 16. 
8 



86 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

four hundred and thirty-one adults and chil- 
dren baptized. 

Dr. Barclay departed this life on the 20th 
of August, 1764. He was a meek, affable, 
sweet-tempered, and devout man, and his min- 
istry was greatly blessed. 

The Rev. Samuel Auchmuty succeeded to 
the rectorship, and the Rev. Charles Inglis 
and the Rev. John Ogilvie were appointed 
assistant ministers. 

The building of St. Paul's Chapel was begun 
in 1763, and completed in 1766. It was a 
beautiful specimen of architecture, unequalled 
in this country at that day, and surpassed by 
few churches of the present time. 

In 1774, the Rev. Benjamin Moore and the 
Rev. John Bowden became assistant ministers 
of Trinity parish. 

Dr. Auchmuty died on the 4th of March, 
1777, and the Rev. Charles Inglis was chosen 
Rector in his stead. This brings us down to 
the time of the Revolutionary War, concerning 
which we have spoken in a former chapter. 

As we have already intimated, we shall have 
many interesting facts to relate concerning 
Trinity Church, and her ministers, in another 
volume of this series. 



CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 

Tlie progress of the Church beyond the limits of New York 
city — Westchester county — A church built and a minister 
called — The Eev. John Bartow, and his labors — Many per- 
sons brought over to the Church — Preaching in a barn — ■ 
Petty annoyances at Jamaica — The Presbyterian preacher 
takes possession of the pulpit — Disgraceful scene in the after- 
noon — Lord Cornbury, the governor, interferes — Death 01 
the missionary — His successor, and some account of what he 
did for the Church — Primitive specimens of architecture — 
Six months cold and six months hot weather — Condition of 
the negro slaves in Westchester — Death of Mr. Standard — 
Mr. Milner and Mr. Seabury. 

■ AYING thus noted the establishment 
of the Church in the city of New 
York, we are prepared to trace its 
progress in other parts of the State. 

The county of Westchester, having 
a large number of English settlers 
among its population, proved to be a very 
kindly soil for the Church. The inhabitants 
of the chief town, which was called Westches- 
ter, were the first in this country to request 
the services of a missionary. They built a 
church, and the Eev. John Bartow (who was 
of French descent, but born in England) be- 




88 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

came their clergyman in 1702. As the country 
around was almost without any religious privi- 
leges, he extended his labors to East Chester, 
New Rochelle, and Yonkers. 

His services were acceptable, and were fol- 
lowed by most encouraging tokens of success. 
In 1704, he writes home to the Missionary So- 
ciety : " I have been now two years in actual 
service of my mission in this parish, and, by 
the blessing of God, have been instrumental 
in bringing many into the communion of our 
Church, who are very constant and devout at 
their attendance on divine worship. Those 
who w^ere enemies at my first coming, are now 
zealous professors of the ordinances of the Gos- 
pel. The inhabitants of my parish live scat- 
tered and much dispersed, which occasions my 
duty to be more difficult." 

Mr. Bartow continued very industrious in 
his mission, and well respected by the people. 
His cure was large ; the number of inhabitants 
at Westchester was about five hundred and 
fifty, at East Chester above four hundred, and 
at Yonkers two hundred and thirty. He used 
to preach at East Chester (which was now 
made a district parish, and had built a church) 
once a month, where he had a large congrega- 
tion. The people here were generally of the 



KEV. JOHN BARTOW HIS LABORS. 89 

Presbyterian persuasion till Mr. Bartow came 
among them ; but in the year 1703 they em- 
braced the Church of England worship, and 
received him for their minister. There was no 
parsonage-house here, but there were twenty- 
three acres of glebe-land, given for the use of 
a Church of England minister forever. As 
often as he could he visited Yonkers : a large 
congregation, chiefly of Dutch people, came to 
hear him. There was no church built here, so 
they assembled for divine worship at a house 
of Mr. Joseph Bebits, and sometimes in a barn, 
when empty. 

Mr. Bartow continued very diligent in the 
discharge of all the duties of his ministerial 
office, and gained over a great number to the 
Church communion. He persuaded many 
grown persons, who were negligent of all re- 
ligion, of the advantage of baptism ; adminis- 
tered this holy sacrament to them ; and they 
became very sober members of the Church. 

Mr. Bartow had his own trials to bear ; and 
as a specimen of the petty annoyances to which 
he was subjected, we will give him an oppor- 
tunity to describe one of his missionary excur- 
sions to Jamaica, Long Island : 

" Mr. Hobbart, their Presbyterian minister, 
having been for some time at Boston, returned 

8* 



90 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

to Jamaica the Saturday night as I came to it, 
and sent to me at my lodgings (being then in 
company with our chief-justice, Mr. Mumpes- 
son, and Mr. Carter, her majesty's comptroller) 
to know if I intended to preach on the morrow. 
I sent him answer, I did intend it. The next 
morning the bell rung as usual ; but before the 
last time ringing, Mr. Hobbart was got into 
the church, and had begun his service, of 
which notice was given me ; whereupon I went 
into the church, and walked straightway to the 
pew, expecting Mr. Hobbart would desist : he 
knew I had orders from the governor to offi- 
ciate there, hut he persisted, and I forbore to 
make any interruption. 

" In the afternoon I prevented him, begin- 
ning the service of the Church of England 
before he came ; who was so surprised, when 
after he came to the church door and saw me 
performing divine service, that he suddenly 
started back, and went aside to an orchard 
hard by, and sent in some to give the word 
that Mr. Hobbart would preach under a tree. 
Then I perceived a whispering through the 
church, and an uneasiness of many people — 
some going out : some seemed amazed, not yet 
determined to go or stay. In the mean time, 
some that were gone out returned again for 



PETTY ANNOYANCES AT JAMAICA. 91 

their seats, and then we had a shameful dis- 
turbance — hawling and tugging of seats, shov- 
ing one the other off, carrying them out and 
returning again for more ; so that I was fain 
to leave off till the disturbance was over and 
a separation made, by which time I had lost 
about half of the congregation, the rest re- 
maining devout and attentive the whole time 
of service; after which we lock't the church 
door, and committed the key into the hands of 
the sheriff. We were no sooner gone into an 
adjoining house but some persons came to de- 
mand the key of their meeting-house ; which 
being denied, they went and broke the glass 
window, and put a boy in to open the door, 
and so put in their seats and took away the 
pew-cushion, saying they would keep that, 
however, for their own minister. The scold- 
ing and wrangling that ensued are by me 
ineffable. 

" The next time I saw my Lord Cornbury, he 
thanked me, and said he would do the Church 
and me justice : accordingly he summoned 
Mr. Hobbart and the head of the faction be- 
fore him, and forbade Mr. Hobbart ever more 
to preach in that church ; for, in regard it was 
built by a public tax, it did appertain to the 
established Church (which it has quietly re- 



92 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

mained ever since), and is now in possession 
of our Rev. Brother, Mr. ITrquhart." 

After twenty-five years of laborious service, 
Mr. Bartow died at Westchester, in 1725. Ac- 
cording to the custom of that day, his remains 
were buried beneath the chancel, in the old 
parish church of St. Peter. 

The successor of this good man was the Rev. 
Thomas Standard, who had previously been a 
missionary at Brookhaven, on Long Island. 
In 1729, he writes a long letter to the secretary 
of the Society in London, from which we glean 
some interesting items. And first he furnishes 
us with an account of the style of church 
architecture which then prevailed in the coun- 
try villages : 

" The church of Westchester is a square of 
twenty-eight feet of a side, about eighteen feet 
to the eaves, and near of the same dimensions 
and form as the church of East Chester, save 
that the church of Westchester hath a sort of 
cupola in which is hung a bell, so that the 
whole resembles much our pigeon-houses in 
England. 

" The churches both of East and West Ches- 
ter, and indeed most of the buildings of this 
country, are made after the following manner, 



PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURE. 93 

viz. : They make a frame of certain dimensions, 
which they raise by piecemeal — first placing 
the under post upon stones placed here and 
there to support it. When the whole frame is 
put together, they fill up the vacancies under 
the said frame, which they call under-pinning. 
Then they raise the top part or roof, in like 
manner as we do, with rafters, applying upon 
them laths ; and upon them they nail some 
split wood — commonly cedar, that being the 
most in esteem — of about half an inch thick, 
and half a foot wide, and sometimes two, some- 
times three feet long, according to the inten- 
tion of the builder, of being either more saving 
in charge, or more secure against the weather. 
The wall part is likewise covered with laths ; 
and upon them are nailed, as on the roof, split 
wood which they call shingles, and they are 
placed perpendicularly, but then not so thickly 
placed one by the other as on the roof, where 
they resemble our tiles." 

The following observations upon the climate 
are curious : 

" In the winter-time we have severely cold 
weather, with very hard frost and deep snows, 
which hold us at least four months, beginning 
generally about the middle of November, and 
ending about the middle of March. But we 



94 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

have very cold winds some time before, and 
likewise some time after the time aforesaid ; so 
that w r e reckon six months of cold and six 
months of hot weather, — four of these being 
extremely cold, and four extremely hot. It is 
the business of the summer here to provide for 
the winter, by which means few of our farmers 
rise, or are so much as beforehand with the 
world : but the far greatest number are in- 
volved in debts and difficulties by means of 
the intemperature of the climate, and the in- 
dolence and restiveness of the inhabitants. 
But few here improve in their fortunes ; so 
that, for aught I could hitherto learn by any 
observation I could make in my parish, the 
number of those that die in it exceeds not the 
number of those that run out of it." 

In answer to the inquiries of the secretary, 
concerning the condition of the negro slaves 
in his parish, Mr. Standard remarks : 

" In the township of "Westchester, there are 
seventy-five : in that of East Chester, twenty- 
six. But few of these negroes are in the service 
of those belonging to our Church. And then, 
further, the state of the negroes being servi- 
tude and bondage, all the week they are held 
to hard work, — but only Sundays excepted, 
when they fish or fowl, or some other way pro- 



NEGRO IGNORANCE. 95 

vide for themselves. Their scattered position 
up and down the country some distance from 
the church, and the foolish prejudices of the 
masters, who conceive that the servants are 
worse for being taught, and more apt to rebel 
(an unhappy instance of which we had fourteen 
or fifteen years ago, in the city of ISTew York, 
when and where there was an insurrection of 
the negroes, in which several white people were 
destroyed, and it was observed, that the cate- 
chumens of that kind, or the more instructed 
of the negroes, were the very leaders in that 
insurrection), are almost an invincible bar to 
their Christian instruction. 

" But I had almost forgot one thing which, 
however, is of great moment in this case, and 
it is, that few of. them are capable of being 
instructed. I have now two negroes, since 
marriage, one of which is a girl about nine 
years old, whom I have had above twelve 
months, and have during that time several 
times attempted to teach her to read, but can- 
not yet make her know her alphabet; nor 
have any endeavors hitherto used with her, 
which have not been inconsiderable, been suf- 
ficient to make her number ten, though she 
was born in this country ; nor can a fellow 
that is at least twenty, whom I have lately 



96 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

bought, though he has been seven years in 
this country, count up that number ; but not- 
withstanding what hath been said, I hope so 
far to initiate them in the Christian religion 
as to fit them for Baptism. 

" I have, in obedience to our principles, pub- 
licly exhorted those who have negroes to in- 
struct them in the principles of the Christian 
religion, and have offered my assistance therein, 
but hitherto with little success. I hope I shall 
succeed better in some future attempt." 

After continuing at his post for thirty-four 
years, Mr. Standard died at East Chester, in 
January, 1760 ; his body being laid under the 
altar in St. Paul's Church. 

The Rev. John Milner, a native of New 
York city, went to England for Holy Orders, 
and was ordained by the Bishop of London, in 
1760. 

Upon his return to America, he entered 
upon Mr. Standard's field of labor, where he 
was successfully employed for about five years, 
when he resigned his charge. 

In 1766, the Rev. Samuel Seabury became 
the missionary to the parish of Westchester, 
but as we have already spoken of this in the 
life of Bishop Seabury, we must refer our rea- 
ders to that volume. 



CHAPTER TWELFTH. 

New Eochelle — The Eev. Daniel Bondet — His history in a few 
words — The first French Church and minister in New Eo- 
chelle — Mr. Bondet becomes a missionary of the Society — 
Gradual transformation of his congregation — Their final 
adoption of the English Prayer-book — New church built — 
Mr. Pelham's gift — Death of the missionary — The Eev. Mr. 
Stouppe — His troubles as recited by himself — The Eev. 
Michael Houdin— A romantic history — Guide for General 
Wolfe — Becomes the guide of the flock at New Eochelle — 
Charter from George III. — Mr. Houdin' s death. 

E¥ EOCHELLE was settled by 
French Protestants, and here the 
Rev. Daniel Bondet, a French cler- 
gyman, officiated for several years, 
supported by the voluntary contribu- 
tions of the people, and an allowance 
of about one hundred and fifty dollars from 
the government of New York. 

Mr. Bondet had fled from his native country 
to England, on the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, and received Ordination at the hands 
of Dr. Henry Compton, Bishop of London. 
In 1686, he came to Massachusetts with a 
company of French emigrants, and, for eight 

9 




98 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

years, was employed in ministering among the 
Indians at a place called New Oxford, not far 
from Boston, and also in preaching to his own 
countrymen . 

From Massachusetts he removed to "West- 
chester, where he became the pastor of the 
French church. The first place of worship 
here was built by the Huguenots in 1692, and 
the Rev. David Bonrepos, D.D., who accom- 
panied them in their flight from France, was 
their clergyman for some time after their set- 
tlement at New Rochelle., 

In 1704, Mr. Bondet was recommended to 
the Society, by the clergy of New York, as a 
most proper person to be employed as a mis- 
sionary, having done more, as they say, "to 
convert the heathen, than any Protestant min- 
ister that we know." The appointment was 
accordingly made, and he began to use the 
Prayer-book of the English Church on every 
third Sunday, the French prayers, according 
to the Protestant Churches of France, being 
employed at other times. And so the trans- 
formation gradually went on, until in 1709 
the whole congregation, with the exception of 
two persons, conformed to the English Church. 

" Mr. Bondet" (says Humphrey in his history 
of the Propagation Society), " had a large con- 



mr. bondet's death. 99 

gregation, and commonly about fifty communi- 
cants. The church they used was now become 
ruinous, and the inhabitants of the place, and 
members of the Church increased. They began 
to gather voluntary contributions to build a 
new church, and about the year 1711 got a 
sufficient sum, and erected a small church. 
Some time after, a worthy gentleman, Mr. 
John Pelham, lord of the manor of Pelham 
(of which New Rochelle is a part), gave one 
hundred acres of land within the said manor 
for the use of the Church. The town of Ro- 
chelle gave a house and three acres of land, 
adjoining the church, to the minister forever. 
Mr. Bondet persevered with his former care, 
in all parts of his office, till the year 1722, in 
which, he died, much lamented by his parish. 
He was a plain, sober man, and had been min- 
ister of that parish above twenty years. He 
bequeathed to the town, for the use of the 
minister, his library, amounting to four hun- 
dred volumes of books." 

Mr. Bondet's successor was the Rev. Pierre 
Stouppe, who thus writes to the secretary in 
1725 : 

" There are yet thirty families unconformed 
within ]STew Rochelle bounds, and were it not 
for fear of the eager censures of Mr. Moulinars, 

LofC. 



100 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

one of the French ministers of New York, who 
comes quarterly among them, and some of 
the most creditable members of his congrega- 
tion, who, jointly with him, do support their 
separation from the Church, all those yet dis- 
senting families, without exception, would have 
been come over to it already. The proceeding 
is so unjust that I cannot forbear to complain 
of it, and set down to the consideration of the 
honorable Society, some of the arguments they 
make use of to keep the dissenting inhabitants 
of New Rochelle in their division from the 
Church, and even to pervert, if possible, its 
truest defenders. They not only, at all occa- 
sions, inspire them with a disadvantageous 
opinion of the Church of England, but they 
rail in a plain manner at its Liturgy and cere- 
monies. The said Mr. Moulinars has declared 
(as can be proved), that he finds our Church 
and that of Rome as like one another as two 
fishes can be; besides, the said minister and 
his party have threatened the yet dissenting 
French inhabitants of New Rochelle of break- 
ing with them all commerce, and of suspending 
all acts of charity and support towards them, 
if ever they should dare to join themselves at 
any time to the Church ; nay, for instance, the 
said Moulinars and his party, convinced long 



TROUBLES OF ME. STOUPPE. 101 

ago of Mr. Roux, the other minister of the 
French in New York, and his inclination and 
good affection to the Church, and of his always 
openly blaming and disapproving Mr. Mouli- 
nars, his colleague's, irregular practices against 
the Church in general, and especially his keep- 
ing np and fomenting our unhappy divisions 
in New Rochelle. The said Moulinars and his 
party, in revenge, have pretended to depose 
Mr. Roux, and suspend him accordingly of all 
his accustomed ministerial functions among 
them, as you may see it more largely in this 
collection of papers on that subject, which I 
beg of you to put into the honorable Society's 
hands, and which will justify in general the 
matters I here acquaint them with. They will 
find that one of the chiefest reasons of this 
violence against Mr. Roux, has no other 
ground than his constant affection to the 
Church, and the public approbation he has at 
all times and occasions given to its ceremonies 
and doctrine; and this affair is so far gone 
that the honorable Council of this province 
could not forbear to take notice and to inter- 
pose their mediation and authority, which 
having been unsuccessful on the French dis- 
senter's part, Mr. Roux intends, by the advice 
of his friends, to carry his complaints into 

9* 



102 LIFE OF BISHOP PROYOOST. 

chancery, where it is not doubted but he will 
find protection and justice. I thought it ne- 
cessary to make you this relation, that the hon- 
orable Society might be more sensible of the 
great prejudice Mr. Moulinars and his adher- 
ents do in general to the Church of England, 
and in particular to that of New Kochelle, and 
that there is no unlawful practice which they 
scruple to make use of for the detriment of it. 
After Mr. Bondet, my predecessor's, death, 
they engaged the dissenters to build a meeting- 
house about two hundred yards distant from 
the church in which I officiate twice every 
Sunday ; they incited them also to reclaim the 
one hundred acres of land which Mr. Bondet 
enjoyed, and which were given by the Lord 
Pelham to the use of the Church, in order to 
deprive me of it ; and notwithstanding all the 
friendly presentations made from time to time 
to the said Mr. Moulinars, by some gentlemen 
of this country, and also by the late Lord 
Bishop of London, of which Master Aufere, 
one of the Society's members, may give a more 
full and exact account, — all this, I say, did not 
prevail with him, nor induce him to keep his 
own congregation, and not to intrude himself 
into those of others, and consequently not to 
trouble their union and peace. He also of late 



ROMANTIC HISTORY. 103 

eagerly consumed some of the dissenters of 
New Rochelle, who, to save expenses and in- 
conveniences they would lay under in bringing 
their children to New York to be christened by 
him, or who by reason of having no aversion 
from the Church, do not think fit to defer their 
Baptism till he came among them, according 
to his desire, have required me to baptize them. 
I heartily wish the honorable Society would 
pity our assaulted Church, and take some 
effectual means for the removing of the cause 
and instrument of the unhappy divisions w T e 
are in ; our endeavors here without their assist- 
ance having proved of but little and of none 
effect. For there is no irregular practice 
which, in their opinion, is not supported, and 
which they do not find justified and authorized 
by the benefit of toleration, and liberty of con- 
science granted to them ; in such manner they 
abuse that great and inestimable privilege." 

Mr. Stouppe (who had been greatly beloved 
by his people) was succeeded by the Rev. 
Michael Houdin, who was also a native of 
France, and had been bred a Franciscan friar. 
He was at one time the Superior of a convent 
of this order at Montreal, in Canada ; but hav- 
ing become disgusted with some things in the 
Romish system, he retired to the city of New 



104 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

York, and made a public renunciation of the 
errors of Popery, and joined the Church of 
England, on Easter-day, 1747. 

Having officiated at Trenton, and other places 
in New Jersey, he went as a guide, in 1759, 
with General Wolfe, in his memorable expedi- 
tion against Quebec. While he remained in 
Canada, an attempt was made by the vicar- 
general to seduce him from his allegiance, by 
the offer of great preferment in the Romish 
Church. Mr. Houdin remained steadfast, how- 
ever, and in 1761 returned to New York, and 
was appointed missionary at New Rochelle. 
During his continuance there, Trinity Church 
received its first charter from King George the 
Third.* He closed his earthly labors in Oc- 
tober, 1766, his remains being placed by the 
side of his predecessors, Bondet and Stouppe, 
beneath the chancel of the old French church. 

From the death of Mr. Houdin until the be- 
ginning of the Revolutionary War, the parish 
at New Rochelle was under the care of the 
Rev. Samuel Seabury. 

* A full account of the difficulties about the Church glebe is 
given in Mr. Bolton's valuable History of the Church in West- 
chester County, page 465. 



CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 

An omission which would be unpardonable — Devoted laymen — 
Colonel Heathcote — Curious cause of emigration — Becomes a 
prominent man in the province of New York — Various honor- 
able offices which he held — Services rendered to the Church — 
The stately manor-house — Eeverenced by the poor — Sudden 
death — Last will and testament — Some account of his de- 
scendants — Colonel Lewis Morris — His character and habits — ■ 
Influence in the political world — Devotion to the Church — 
Dutch Prayer-books — Timber for Trinity Church — Stopping 
short, for want of space to say more. 

k jiT would be unpardonable, while speak- 
ing of the early history of the Church 




in Westchester county, to say nothing 
of the devoted laymen who so faithfully 
supported the hands of God's minister- 
ing servants. Prominent among these 
was Colonel Caleb Heathcote, the great-grand- 
father of Bishop De Lancey, of Western New 
York. 

The family of Heathcotes is an ancient one, 
and may be traced far back in the annals of 
English history. Colonel Heathcote (to whom 
the Church in Westchester owes a large debt 
of gratitude for her first foundation, and for 
many acts of liberality) was born at Chester- 
field in 1663, and followed the business of a 



106 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

shipping merchant. The cause of his removal 
to the New World was rather singular. He 
was engaged to a very beautiful lady, who 
afterwards made up her mind that she pre- 
ferred Sir Gilbert Heathcote, an elder brother 
of her betrothed, and accordingly the engage- 
ment with the younger was broken off. 

Caleb Heathcote, in his mortification and 
distress, left England at once, and came to 
New York in 1692. He was a man of rare 
abilities, and soon became a leading person in 
the colony. 

He was judge of "Westchester, and colonel 
of its militia all his life ; a councillor of the 
province ; for three years mayor of New York ; 
and from 1715, until his death, receiver-gen- 
eral of the customs in North America. 

Colonel Heathcote was also one of the found- 
ers of Trinity Church, New York, his name 
appearing on the list of its first vestrymen in 
1697, an office wliich he continued to hold for 
nearly twenty years. 

In 1704, he was elected a member of the 
Venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, and he never failed 
to do all in his power to advance the interests 
of the Church. 

He built a stately brick manor-house in the 



COLONEL HEATIICOTe's WILL. 107 

village of Mamaroneck, upon what is still 
known as Heathcote Hill, where he resided 
for fifteen years. The poor of the neighbor- 
hood had reason to regard him as their best 
friend, and he was universally respected and be- 
loved. He died suddenly, in the spring of 1721. 
On the very day of his departure from the earth, 
he had been actively engaged in procuring 
subscriptions for some charitable object. 

Colonel Heathcote's wife was the daughter 
of Colonel William Smith, of Long Island, and 
they were blessed with six children, — Gilbert, 
"William, Anne, Mary, Martha, and Elizabeth. 

" On the 29th of February, a. d. 1719, Caleb 
Heathcote executed his last will and testament. 
To his eldest son, Gilbert, he devised his dwell- 
ing-house at Mamaroneck, East Neck, &c, and 
also all his lands lying on the east side of 
Mamaroneck river, and all his lands within 
the county of Westchester, running eighteen 
miles in length into the woods. His sons, and 
two of his daughters, died in their minority, 
upon which his lands in this parish, with other 
possessions, descended to Anne and Martha, 
their surviving sisters, who thus became his 
heiresses. Anne, the eldest, married the Hon. 
James De Lancey, chief-justice and lieutenant- 
governor of the province of New York. Their 



108 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

children were : — First, James, educated at Eton 
and Cambridge universities, who was a promi- 
nent member of the Assembly for many years 
prior and up to the Revolution. He went to 
England on a visit in the spring of 1775, and, 
the war commencing, he did not return. He 
died at Bath in the year 1800. His son, Lieu- 
tenant-colonel James De Lancey, of the First 
Dragoon Guards, is the only male member of 
his family now living. Stephen James, the 
second son, whose intellect was affected by 
disease in his infancy, was killed accidentally 
in 1795 : he was married, but left no issue. 
John Peter, the youngest child of the lieuten- 
ant-governor, was also educated in England, at 
Harrow, and at the military school at Green- 
wich ; he entered the army, and served till 
1789, when he threw up his commission of 
captain, returned shortly after to America, and 
resided till his death, in 1828, at his grand- 
father's old seat, of which he was the proprie- 
tor. Thomas James, the eldest son of this gen- 
tleman, died a judge of Westchester county, at 
the age of thirty-two, leaving one son, Thomas 
James De Lancey. William Heathcote, his 
youngest son, is the present Bishop of Western 
New York. The Rev. William Walton, D. D., 
of New York, is a great-grandson of Chief-jus- 



COLONEL LEWIS MORRIS. 109 

tice De Lancey. Martha, the second daughter 
of Colonel Heatheote, married Lewis Johnston, 
M . D., of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, from 
whom descends the Eight Rev. Charles Petit 
Mcllvaine, Bishop of Ohio, and Susannah, wife 
of the Rev. John M. Ward, Rector of the 
parish."* 

Another prominent layman in the county of 
Westchester was Colonel Lewis Morris, the 
third proprietor of Morrisania. 

He was a man of decided abilities, and was 
considered the most influential member of the 
New York Assembly in 1710. An enthusi- 
astic student, and fond of the society of the 
intelligent and refined, he was surrounded by 
those who could sympathize with him in his 
literary tastes. 

In 1700, he was appointed president of the 
Council of New Jersey, and afterwards became 
governor of that province. When William 
Burnett was made governor of New York, in 
1720, Colonel Morris received the appointment 
of chief-justice, and was the friend and adviser 
of the new executive. 

Like Colonel Heathcote, he was chosen a 
member of the Propagation Society, and took 



■ Bolton's History of the Church in Westchester, p. 631. 
10 



110 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

an active part in promoting its interests. He 
was also one of tliose who felt the great wrong 
which was done to the Church in America, by 
refusing to send out Bishops, and he often ex- 
pressed himself accordingly. 

The following extract from one of his letters, 
will give some idea of the common-sense view 
which he took of affairs, and of his zealous de- 
votion to the cause of religion : 

"I have used some endeavors to persuade 
the Dutch in my neighborhood into a good 
opinion of the Church of England, and have 
had that success, that they would, I believe, 
join, a great part of them, in the sacraments 
and worship, had they Dutch Common Prayer- 
books, and a minister that understood their 
language. I have taken some pains with one 
of their ministers, one Mr. Henricus Beyse, 
and have prevailed on him to accept of Epis- 
copal Ordination. I think him a man of the 
best learning we have in this part of the world, 
and I believe he may be ranked among the 
men of letters in the other, but I must acquaint 
you that he has had some falling out with his 
parishioners. For my part, I do believe he is 
most falsely accused. I have observed his life, 
and have found nothing in it irregular or un- 
becoming his character. The Dutch of best 



COLONEL MORRIS'S LIBERALITY. Ill 

figure have a value for him, and allow him to 
be the greatest master of the Dutch tongue 
they have among them, and those in my 
neighborhood esteem him very much. If the 
Society think fit to employ him, I shall add to 
what they give £15 per annum for three years, 
and I believe he will do great service, and I 
doubt not you will find him worth your ac- 
quaintance and favor. If the Society would 
send about fifty Dutch Common Prayer-books, 
I believe they would sell, and the money might 
be returned, or paid to their missionaries as 
they thought proper. This would be doing a 
great good at a cheap rate." 

Besides his liberality to the Church in "West- 
chester, Colonel Morris contributed the timber 
for the erection of Trinity Church, New York, 
and in return for this act of munificence, the 
vestry granted the family a square pew. He 
was a vestryman of that parish from 1697 to 
1700. He died on the 21st of May, 1746, 
aged seventy-three years, and was buried in a 
vault at Morrisania. 

To write a full account of all that the Mor- 
ris family has done" for the Church from that 
day to this, would require a volume by itself, 
and therefore we are obliged to stop short at 
this point. 



CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. 

Missions among the Indians of New York — Memorial of the 
Earl of Bellamont — The Eev. Thoroughgood Moor — Is there 
any virtue in a name ? — The Mohawks' castle — Indian deceit 
—The mission fails — Lord Cornbury's outrageous acts — Im- 
prisonment of Mr. Moor — Lost at sea — Four chiefs go to 
England — New mission to the Indians — The Eev. "William 
Andrews — First view of the Indian country — Customs of the 
tribes — Hopes of doing good — Eepeated discouragements — 
"Withdraws from the field — Other laborers succeed him — The 
fruits of long and patient waiting — Honored names. 

HITS far we have been led to notice 
the efforts made to establish the Eng- 
lish Church among the white settlers 
of the province of New York. In 
this chapter we shall furnish some 
account of the early missions for the 
benefit of the Indian tribes. 

In 1700, the Earl of Bellamont, then gov- 
ernor of New York, sent a memorial to the 
Lords of Trade and Plantations on the want of 
clergymen of the Church to instruct the Five 
Nations of Indians, and to prevent their being 
brought under the control of the French, 
through the influence of Jesuit priests. 




A GOOD NAME. 113 

Although the motive which prompted this 
movement was rather political than religious, 
the cause was a good one, and the Rev. 
Thoroughgood Moor arrived at New York in 
1704 to engage in this noble service. My 
younger readers will be struck with this 
clergyman's Christian name. If there is any 
virtue in a name, he certainly started under 
the best auspices possible. 

Mr. Moor was received with much apparent 
kindness by Lord Cornbury (who succeeded 
Lord Bellamont in the government of New 
York and New Jersey), and repaired without 
delay to Albany. Here he occupied himself 
in learning the Indian language, and in culti- 
vating a friendly acquaintance with the mem- 
bers of the various tribes who came to that 
town for trade. 

As soon as the roads were passable in the 
spring, the missionary travelled through the 
woods to " the Mohawks' Castle," whither one 
of the Indian sachems had invited him to come, 
in order that he might instruct the children of 
the forest in their religious duties. Although 
this was certainly a most promising beginning, 
the end did not turn out as well as might have 
been anticipated. "When Mr. Moor proposed 
to make his permanent abode with the red men, 
10* 



114 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

the cunning chief always had some plausible 
excuse for delay ; and there is every reason for 
believing that the French were secretly at work 
to undermine the influence of the English. 
The good missionary having waited nearly a 
whole year at Albany, in the vain hope of 
being allowed to carry out the plan which was 
so dear to his heart, at last became completely 
discouraged, and retired to Burlington, New 
Jersey, with the view of assisting in the duties 
of the Church at that place. And now more 
serious difficulties awaited him ; and one who 
ought to have encouraged and protected him 
became his worst enemy. We refer to the 
conduct of the governor. Lord Cornbury was 
a man of profligate habits and headstrong tem- 
per, who was finally driven from his office by 
a series of outrageous acts, which could no 
longer be patiently endured. He remained in 
power long enough, however, to make a great 
many persons feel the weight of his petty tyr- 
anny ; and among them was Mr. Moor. 

At one time, when the governor had been 
guilty of the gross impropriety of dressing 
himself in female attire, and walking, in broad 
day, along the ramparts of the town, the faith- 
ful clergyman very properly expostulated with 
him on such unbecoming behavior. This 



REV. WILLIAM ANDREWS. 115 

aroused his lordship's indignation, and he com- 
manded Mr. Moor to be cast into prison. Here 
he remained until he could find an opportunity 
to escape ; but the vessel in which he embarked 
for England was lost at sea, and thus ended the 
disastrous career of the first English missionary 
to the Iroquois. 

In 1709, four Indian chiefs went to England 
to confirm the peace which had been made by 
their tribes with the governor of New York ; 
and to request the king to send out clergymen 
to instruct them. It was accordingly con- 
cluded that two missionaries, together with an 
interpreter and schoolmaster, should be pro- 
vided for the Mohawk and Oneida Indians ; 
and the queen gave directions for the erection 
of a fort, with a chapel and house for the cler- 
gyman, in the country of the Mohawks. 

The Rev. William Andrews, the first mis- 
sionary selected, arrived at Albany in 1712; 
and in giving an account of his reception, he 
says : " When we came near the town, we saw 
the Indians upon the banks, looking out for 
my coming. When I came ashore, they re- 
ceived me with abundance of- joy — every one 
shaking me by the hand, bidding me welcome 
over and over." 

After some further account of his proceed- 



116 LIFE OF BISHOP TROYOOST. 

ings, he gives the following particulars as to 
the customs and mode of living of the Indians : 
" The number of adults of this nation is 
about two hundred and sixty. They have a 
great many children. There are seldom above 
half of the Indians at home together, but al- 
ways going and coming. Their chief town — ■ 
or castle, as it is called — stands by the fort, 
consisting of forty or fifty wigwams, or houses, 
palisaded round. Their houses are made of 
mats and bark of trees, together with poles 
about three or four yards high. Their clothing 
is a match-coat like a mantle — either a blanket 
or a bear-skin ; their bed is a mat or a skin. 
They paint and grease themselves much with 
bear's fat clarified ; cut the hair off from one 
side of their heads, and some of that on the 
other they tie up in knots upon the crown 
with feathers. The men are slothful and lazy 
enough ; the women laborious, true servants 
to their husbands, carry all the burdens, fetch 
home out of the woods the venison their hus- 
bands kill, the wood they burn, carry the 
children about on their backs, hoe the ground, 
plant the corn, wait upon their husbands when 
they eat, and take what they leave them : yet, 
for all this, they say the women court the men 
when they design marriage." 



HOPES OF DOING GOOD. 117 

In a subsequent letter, lie thus paints the 
serious inconveniences of a residence in that 
country : " There is no manner of pleasure to 
be proposed by living here, but only the hopes 
of doing some good among these poor, dark, 
ignorant creatures. For four or five months 
we can scarce stir abroad, by the reason of 
the extreme coldness of the weather and deep 
snows ; and in the summer we are tormented 
with flies and musquitoes, and cannot stir 
abroad without being in danger of being stung 
with the snakes, here are so many of them. 
In the next place, the transporting of provi- 
sions to this place is very chargeable ; the 
nearest towns to us of Christian inhabitants, 
where we buy what we want, are Schenectady 
and Albany — the one about twenty-four, the 
other about forty-four miles. The road by 
land, for the most part, is a small, rough In- 
dian path through the woods, where we cannot 
ride without a great deal of danger, by reason 
of the foulness of the road with fallen trees, 
roots, stones, high hills, and swamps." 

In 1715 — that is, about three years after his 
arrival — lie had twenty children pretty con- 
stantly at school, but acknowledges that they 
were principally induced to attend by the food 
which he distributed to them : " Victuals is a 



118 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

great motive with them ; for the Indians are 
very poor, and fare hard." The ordinary at- 
tendants at church were from sixty to seventy ; 
and as many as one hundred and fifty, when 
the great body of them were at home. The 
number of communicants altogether was thirty- 
eight. So far, indeed, was Mr. Andrews from 
claiming any credit for his labors among them, 
that he writes thus to the Society in 1718 : 

" Their lives are generally such as leave little 
or no room for hopes of ever making them any 
better than they are — heathens. Heathens they 
are, and heathens they will still be. There are 
a few, and but a few, perhaps about fourteen 
or fifteen, whose lives are more regular than 
the rest." They showed no devotion in church, 
where they came to get a dinner, and slept 
most of the time. They frequently spent the 
Sunday in a hunting excursion. He sums up 
his description of their character in the follow- 
ing w r ords : " They are a sordid, mercenary, 
beggarly people, having but little sense of re- 
ligion, honor, or goodness among them ; living 
generally filthy, brutish lives. They are of 
an inhuman, savage nature — kill and eat one 
another." And in another letter, dated six 
months later, he states, " that though he had 
been by the death-beds of several among them, 



HONORED NAMES. 119 

he did not remember to have seen any one of 
them that he could think penitent." 

He accordingly entreated the Society to re- 
move him from his mission, as all his labors in 
it for the improvement of the Indians were in- 
effectual. They would neither accept the ordi- 
nances of religion themselves, nor send their 
children to school. The Society was, for a long 
time, unwilling to listen to so discouraging a 
report ; but as, upon inquiry, it was found to 
be confirmed by others, Mr. Andrews was al- 
lowed to resign, almost in despair, a mission 
undertaken with good hopes of success. 

Discouraging as all this was, devoted souls 
were found to put forth renewed efforts for the 
benefit of the red men ; and among these, the 
names of Henry Barclay, Miln, and Ogilvie, 
are held in grateful remembrance. Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, also, deserves a place in the 
catalogue of liberal and large-hearted laymen, 
who manifested great earnestness and devotion 
in the cause of Indian missions. 

After years of labor and patient waiting, the 
good seed sown on this stony ground began 
to spring up and bring forth fruit. * 

* We must refer our readers to the Lives of Bishop Hobart 
and Father Nash, for an account of Indian missions in New 
York after the Revolution. 



CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 

Keligious instruction of the blacks — A school opened for them 
in New York in 1704 — Elias Neau — His sacrifices and labors — 
Eeliance in God's promises — Prayers of the Church — Two 
hours' teaching — Public catechizing — Unmerited reproach to 
be borne — Negro plot for burning New York city — Loud and 
angry clamor against the teacher — "W ho were guilty ? — Jeal- 
ousies and suspicions — Action of the Common Council — Gov- 
ernor Hunter quiets the alarmists — Neau's death — His work 
carried on by others. 

s 

TIB, rapid outline of the early history 
of the Church in the province of New 
York would be incomplete, without 
some reference to the efforts which 
were made for the benefit of the 
blacks. 

A school for negro slaves was opened at 
New York in 1704, under the charge of the 
Society's catechist, Elias Neau, a native of 
France. He had made, in early life, public 
profession of his faith as one of the Protestants 
of that country, and shared with his brethren 
the pains and penalties with which they were 
visited. After a long imprisonment, and pain- 
ful servitude in the galleys, he found an asylum 




ELIAS NEAU — HIS SACRIFICES AND LABORS. 121 

in New York, and a livelihood from the trade 
which he was enabled to carry on in that city. 
His unaffected and earnest piety won for him 
the respect of all who witnessed the fruits of 
it in his daily walk ; and his knowledge of the 
degraded condition of the negro awakened in 
him the strongest desire to improve it. He 
was not animated by the eager impulse which 
ofttimes arises from inexperience, for his per- 
sonal acquaintance with Eliot had led him to 
know the disappointments of that devoted man 
in the evening of his life, w T ith respect to the 
Indians of New England; and his own esti- 
mate of their character, after nineteen years' 
residence in America, was most unfavorable. 
There was nothing in the position of the slaves 
of New York — who, when Neau began his 
labors among them, are computed to have 
been fifteen hundred — which could give him 
any reason to hope that greater success would 
follow him, than that which had attended 
Eliot. On the contrary, the difficulties of 
holding any intercourse at all with the colored 
people seemed well-nigh insurmountable. At 
first he was only permitted to visit them from 
house to house, when the toil of the day was 
over ; and, afterwards, when he obtained leave 
for them to gather together in the largest room 

11 



122 LITE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

which lie could find on the upper floor of his 
house, they could still tarry with him only for 
such brief portions of the evening as their 
jaded energies would allow. Nevertheless, he 
worked on in simple, unquestioning reliance 
upon the promises of God's help. The prayers 
of the Church of England had long been his 
chief stay and solace, having learnt most of 
them by heart whilst confined in his dungeon 
in France. He began by giving to his negro 
scholars the same help. Upon entering into 
the room, they all knelt down after his exam- 
ple, and repeated from his lips those prayers of 
our Liturgy of which he could most easily ex- 
plain the meaning, and the words of which 
they could most easily retain in their memory. 
The task of teaching occupied about two 
hours ; after which they sang a psalm, and 
then joined once more in prayer, including 
therein an especial petition for a blessing upon 
the work which the Church of England was 
carrying on in their behalf, through her labor- 
ious and simple-hearted catechist. The like 
instruction and devotional exercises were re- 
newed by him every Sunday, in a room which 
was fitted up as a study for the Rector, on the 
lowest floor of the steeple of Trinity Church. 
The scholars were also publicly catechized by 



NEGKO PLOT. 123 

the Rector in church on Sunday afternoons ; 
and as many as he judged qualified for the 
sacrament of Baptism, received it at his 
hands. 

In 1708, four years after Neau had begun 
his labors, the ordinary number of negro cate- 
chumens under instruction was more than two 
hundred. Of those who were baptized, many 
had become regular and devout communicants, 
and were remarkable for their orderly and 
blameless lives. 

Before the lapse of four years more, heavy 
and unmerited reproach was cast upon the 
enterprise. Some negroes of the Carmantee 
and Pappa tribes had formed a plot for setting 
fire to New York on a certain night, as soon as 
the moon was down, and murdering the Eng- 
lish inhabitants. Not one of the conspirators 
divulged his secret, and the work of burning, 
confusion, and massacre was commenced just 
as they had wished and planned ; but, after a 
short struggle, the English gained complete 
mastery over them. Instantly a loud and 
angry clamor broke out against Elias Neau. 
The instruction which he had given to the 
negro, said his accusers, was the sole cause of 
the murderous attempt, and in his school had 
all the plans connected with it been cherished 



124 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

and matured. In vain lie denied the charge. 
It was obstinately renewed ; and so infuriated 
were the people against him, that for some 
days he durst hardly venture abroad, through 
fear of personal violence. The evidence, in- 
deed, brought forward at the trial of the con- 
spirators, clearly proved that only one of his 
scholars, and he an unbaptized man, had ever 
been associated with them ; and that those 
negroes were the most deeply engaged in the 
plot, whose masters had been most distin- 
guished for their opposition to every scheme 
proposed for their spiritual benefit. Never- 
theless, jealousies and suspicions, as cruel as 
they were groundless, prevailed for a long 
time. The offence of a portion of the negroes 
in New York, was charged upon the whole 
race ; and Neau, their unwearied benefactor, 
was compelled to bear the burden of their re- 
proach. The provincial government lent all 
the weight of its authority to make his burden 
heavier. The common council passed an 
order, forbidding the negroes to appear in the 
streets after sunset, without lanterns or can- 
dles ; and, since none of them could procure 
lanterns, or leave their work before sunset, 
the effect of such an order was to break up the 
relations which had so long subsisted between 



DEATH OF MR. NEAU. 125 

Neau and his scholars. It is hard to say what 
further acts of injustice might not have fol- 
lowed. But, at this crisis, Governor Hunter 
stepped forward, and by his firm and judicious 
conduct, put to shame the fears of the alarmists, 
and enabled Neau to resume his pious labors. 
Hunter visited his school, attended by several 
officers of rank in the colony, and by the So- 
ciety's missionaries ; and having seen there 
fresh proofs of the noble spirit which animated 
Ngau, and connecting them with the acknowl- 
edged benefits which had now for eight years 
been conferred upon the negro through the 
same untiring agency, he hesitated not to give 
his full approval to the work ; and in a public 
proclamation, called upon the clergy of the 
province to exhort their congregations from 
the pulpit to extend it in every quarter. Dr. 
Vesey, the Rector, needed not any such ex- 
hortation to stimulate him. He had long 
watched the labors of Neau, and sharing them 
in his own person, had proved their benefit. 
Neau successfully discharged his self-denying 
duties until 1722, when, amid the unaffected 
sorrow of his negro scholars, and the friends 
who honored him for their sake, he was re- 
moved by death. But his work was not suf- 
fered to drop. Huddlestone, then schoolmas- 
11** 



126 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

ter in New York, next undertook it ; and to 
him succeeded the Rev. Mr. "Wetmore, who, 
amid the increasing negro population of the 
city, gathered still larger numbers of them 
into the fold of Christ. 

Upon the removal of the latter to Rye in 
1726, an earnest application was addressed to 
the Bishop of London, and the Society, request- 
ing them to send another minister who might 
instruct the negroes and slaves, and assist the 
Rector, who was declining in years, in the 
general duties of his office. This request was 
immediately answered by the appointment of 
the Rev. Mr. Colgan, who received, a few 
years afterwards, valuable aid from Thomas 
Noxon, a schoolmaster of exemplary piety; 
and cheering evidence is borne to the success 
of their joint labors. The like testimony wait- 
ed upon the services of the Rev. R. Charlton, 
who, having begun the work of instruction of 
the negroes at New Windsor, was called, in 
1732, to continue it in the wider sphere of 
New York ; and there, for fifteen years, per- 
severed in carrying on effectually this import- 
ant duty. Upon his removal to Staten Island, 
the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty promptly supplied 
his place ; and, upon the death of good Thomas 
Noxon, in 1741, a successor of kindred spirit 



BARCLAY RECTOR OF TRINITY. 127 

and energy was found in Hildreth, who reports 
to the Society in 1764, that "not a single black 
admitted by him to the Holy Communion had 
turned out badly, or in any way disgraced his 
profession." Both Auchmuty and Hildreth 
received hearty support from Barclay, who, 
upon the death of Vesey, in 1746, had been 
appointed to the Rectory of Trinity Church. 
The affectionate and watchful spirit which had 
characterized the ministry of Barclay among 
the Mohawks, and his experience of the Indian 
character, led him to look upon the training of 
the negro slave as one of the most interesting 
duties of his new charge, and his friendly 
counsel and co-operation were at all times at 
the disposal of those who labored for their 
benefit* 

* For the interesting particulars of this chapter, we are 
mainly indebted to Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, 
vol. iii. p. 327, etc. 



CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 

The personal history of Bishop Provoost resumed — Letters of 
friendly congratulation— The Eev. Uzal Ogden, and his pres- 
ent of Newark cider — Long before the days of Church news- 
papers — Gleanings from the past — The first Ordination held 
by the Bishop — Columbia College sends a good representa- 
tion to Church on that day — Non-Episcopal Clergymen in- 
vited to attend — Mr. Wright's strong Church sermon, and 
the sensation which it produced — The dry question which 
Dr. Eodgers asked — The first Confirmation in New York — 
Mrs. Owen's Eeminiscences — Old and young confessing Christ 
— Colored servants, and the part they took — The Clergy who 
were present — Letter from Bishop White — Crowds attending 
Ordinations. 

T the close of the ninth chapter, we 
left Bishop Provoost receiving the 
congratulations of the clergy of his 
diocese upon his safe return from 
England, and the happy consumma- 
tion of their desires in his consecra- 

* tion to the Episcopate. 

Among the letters of friendship sent to him 
about this time, we find one in the large, bold 
hand of the Eev. Uzal Ogden,* then officiating 

* For full particulars concerning the eccentric and inconsistent 
career of this clergyman, see Life of Bishop Croes, p. 91, &c. 




KEY. UZAL OGDEN NEWARK CIDER. 129 

in Trinity Church, Newark, New Jersey. It 
will be seen that the reputation of Newark for 
its fine cider dates back to an early day. 

" I hope, through the goodness of God," 
writes Mr. Ogden, " that you still continue to 
recover your health. Be assured I feel a very 
great anxiety for the felicity of yourself, Mrs. 
Provoost, and family. We should be extreme- 
ly happy could you and Mrs. Provoost spend 
some days with us. The country begins to be 
decked with the blooming charms of nature ; 
and I think you would experience great benefit 
by retiring from the city a short time to the 
enjoyment of her beauties. Do endeavor to 
be persuaded of this. I beg your acceptance 
of a barrel of cider, the very best to be ob- 
tained here, though not so good as I could 
wish. Last year was unfavorable with us with 
respect to good cider. The cider should be 
bottled immediately. 

" Mrs. Ogden joins in very affectionate re- 
gards to Mrs. Provoost and family." 

As Bishop Provoost lived long before the 
days of Church Newspapers, and Magazines, 
and Reviews, few traces are left us of his offi- 
cial acts; and accordingly every item which 
can be gleaned will possess uncommon interest. 
Fortunately, we have it in our power to fur- 



130 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

nish an account, given by eye-witnesses, of the 
first Ordination and Confirmation which he 
held. The Ordination took place in St. Paul's 
Chapel, New York city, on Thursday, October 
18th, 1787, when Henry Waddell and John 
S. J. Gardiner were admitted as Deacons. A 
writer in the Protestant Churchman (January, 
1856), thus records his reminiscences : 

" Columbia College w T as closed for the day. 
The President, Professors, and Students all at- 
tended at St. Paul's ; and this, with the occa- 
sion, attracted a numerous audience. Here 
and there were to be seen venerable gentlemen 
in their large powdered wigs, and with their 
gold-headed canes — such as the Rev. Dr. Liv- 
ingston, Rev. Dr. Rodgers, Rev. Dr. Kunze, 
and other non-Episcopal clergymen of the city, 
who had been invited by the Rev. Dr. Beach, 
and were all personal friends of the Bishop. 
His early ancestors were French Protestants, 
who had fled from France after the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew in the year 1572. The 
Bishop was himself a native of this city, and 
was baptized in the Dutch Church in the Dutch 
language. 

" In his canonicals he read the Morning 
Prayer, and then left the reading-desk for an 
arm-chair within the railing of the chancel, 



MR. WRIGHT'S STRONG; CHURCH SERMON. 131 

and the Rev. George Wright ascended the 
pulpit. This divine was a native of Ireland, 
educated in Trinity College, Dublin, and, hav- 
ing been admitted into the ministry, came out 
to this country. He was now Rector of St. 
Ann's Church, Brooklyn ; and he took for his 
text, ' Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the 
midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as ser- 
pents, and harmless as doves.' He expatiated 
on the origin and design of the Christian minis- 
try, on the preached word, the right adminis- 
tration of the sacraments, and the succession 
of the ministry from the Apostles' times to the 
present, as constituting the only true Church. 
He admitted that sects had sprung up, but 
denied their validity ; comparing them to the 
man who would convey an estate to another, 
when no title was vested in himself. 

" This boldness on the part of Mr. Wright 
made the Bishop restless and uneasy, lest Dr. 
Beach's invited clergy should take offence; 
but fortunately no notice was taken, except 
by Dr. Rodgers, who inquired of Dr. Beach, 
whether Mr. Wright was aware that Bishop 
Provoost had been baptized by Dominie Du 
Bois." 

An account of Bishop Provoost's first Con- 
firmation will naturally follow this. Bishop 



132 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

De Lancey thus writes to the editor of the 
Gospel Messenger, early in 1856 : 

" In a recent Episcopal tour in Cburtland 
county, in this diocese, I met, at the house of 
her son, Dr. E. C. Owen, the warden of Cal- 
vary Church, Homer, Mrs. Mary Owen, the 
widow of Dr. J. Owen, a native of the city of 
New York, born in 1774, whose maiden name 
w r as Mary Bell. She gave me an account, as 
an eye-witness, of the administration of the 
holy rite. She was then about fourteen years 
of age. 

" His first Confirmation was held in St. 
Paul's Chapel — Trinity Church was then in 
ashes. More than three hundred persons were 
confirmed. The candidates occupied the body 
of the church below. The congregation were 
in the galleries. The Bishop addressed the 
candidates from the pulpit before Confirmation. 
Many aged persons were confirmed, some of 
them more than ninety years of age. She dis- 
tinctly recollects two aged ladies led up to the 
altar by their colored servants, who stood aside 
until the rite was performed, and then led their 
mistresses back to their pews. The Bishop was 
in his Episcopal robes. She (Mary Bell) viewed 
the ceremony from the gallery. 

" Among the clergy present, she recollects 



LETTER FROM BISHOP WHITE. 133 

the Rev. Benjamin Moore, the Rev. Richard 
Charming Moore, and the Rev. Mr. Pilmore 
(Pilbury she thought his name was). She does 
not distinctly remember the year, month, or 
day, but says it was in warm weather, and not 
on Sunday, and she thinks in the same year in 
which the Bishop arrived from England. 

" As sixty-eight years have rolled away since 
this first Confirmation in New York, but few 
who received the ordinance on that occasion 
can be alive." 

We shall close this chapter (to us a most in- 
teresting one) with a letter from Bishop White, 
never before published. Our readers will be 
struck with the remark which he makes con- 
cerning the crowds who flocked together to 
witness an Ordination, whenever it was known 
where one would be held : 

" Philadelphia, June 7, 1787. 

" Right Rev. and Dear Sir — I have this 
moment received your letter, and am highly 
gratified by the account it gives me of your 
health. I knew that you were much better, 
but not that you were able to do duty. Cap- 
tain Hutchins offered this morning in the street 
to carry any letter I might have to New York. 
I do not know whether it will be convenient 

12 



134: LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

to him to take charge of the journals, but shall 
send them to him with this, desiring him to 
return them, if he goes in such a way as to 
render them troublesome to him. In this case, 
you may depend on their being forwarded 
soon afterwards. 

" I have received a letter from Dr. Griffith, 
but not since his going to the Convention ; 
which I suppose to be, by this time, over. 
When I shall have any intelligence from him 
of consequence, I will forward it to you. 

" About a fortnight or three weeks ago, I 
received a letter from Bishop Seabury, in which 
he mentions that he had also written to you 
on the subject of it. He proposes a meeting 
of us three, before any thing be finally done in 
our Ecclesiastical system. My answer was to 
this effect : That I shall cheerfully take a jour- 
ney for any purpose which shall appear to 
have a tendency to the uniting of our Church 
over the continent — an object very near my 
heart ; that, however, I thought such a meet- 
ing could have no use, if the intentions of our 
brethren in Connecticut were previously known 
to be different from the plan adopted in the 
other States ; that w r e understood this to be the 
case in relation to the model we have adopted 
of an Ecclesiastical representative — the general 



LETTER FROM BISHOP WHITE. 135 

outlines of which had been too maturely adopt- 
ed to be receded from — at the same time that 
we have reason to believe that it is thought 
essentially wrong in Connecticut. As to the 
Common-Prayer (in regard to which Dr. Sea- 
bury has observed that he wished the old to 
be retained, except the political prayers), I an- 
swered, that although I held a review to be 
desirable, yet that if the retaining of the old 
should be found the most likely to keep us 
together, I should cheerfully vote for it : that, 
however, I very much doubted of this, and was 
persuaded that the general sense of our Church 
through the continent was for a review. I give 
you the above from memory, but, I believe, 
pretty exactly. 

" If any thing interesting should occur at 
your Convention, I should be obliged by your 
informing me of it. Nothing remarkable hap- 
pened at ours, except their appointing a com- 
mittee of advice, at my desire. I have a right 
to ask the advice of this committee, and they 
have a right to advise me, whether asked or 
not ; but I am not under a necessity of follow- 
ing their advice ; although it is presumed I 
shall never disregard it, unless it should be 
contrary to my conscience. 

" I held an Ordination on Whitsun Monday 



136 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

and Tuesday, of Mr. Clarkson to the office of 
Deacon, and Mr. Condon to that of Priest; 
and it is no small satisfaction to me, that on 
this first occasion I have more than official 
satisfaction of the merits of the two candidates. 
Since that, there is here a gentleman from Vir- 
ginia strongly recommended by Dr. Griffiths 
and other clergymen, whose distance is so 
great, and reasons for not being here in time 
so satisfactory, that I shall ordain him Deacon 
on Sunday, with the view of ordaining him 
Priest on Monday. We had determined never 
to ordain on Sunday, because of the concourse 
it brings ; but without doing so at present, it 
will be necessary to keep the gentleman several 
weeks till another holiday ; so we have deter- 
mined on Sunday, with the hope of keeping it 
a secret till then. I am afraid the large extent 
of country south without a Bishop will subject 
us to trouble, from their coming up irregularly. 
I have had applications besides the above, but 
have rejected them for want of titles. 

" I beg to be affectionately remembered to 
Mrs. Provoost ; and am, dear sir, 

" Your affectionate brother, 

" William White." 



CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 

Statistics not accurately kept — The first Confirmations in the 
Diocese — An old soiled paper, and its contents — Old families 
well represented — No union of Church and State — Great na- 
tional pageants in which the Episcopal Church has borne a 
conspicuous part — Inauguration of President Washington — 
The procession and the speeches — Services in St. Paul's 
Chapel — Bishop Provoost officiates — Mr. Boardman's recol- 
lections of Washington — Waiting to see the President enter 
the church — His dress and bearing — Diligent in the use of 
his Prayer-book — The two pews with canopies, in St. Paul's 
Chapel — Pictures with antique frames. 

S no rule had as yet been adopted 
requiring the Bishops to deliver ad- 
dresses to their Conventions, giving 
an account of their Episcopal acts, 
we can only gather, from general 
statements scattered here and there, 
that Dr. Provoost ordained a number 
of clergymen, and that he visited the several 
parishes as often as he thought possible under 
the pressure of other official duties. It would 
appear, however, that some of the Confirma- 
tions were very large, as might reasonably be 

expected from the fact that all of the members 
12^ 




138 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

of the Church in the diocese of New York 
(with the exception of a few who may have re- 
ceived the " laying on of hands" in England) 
were now enjoying the privilege for the first 
time. 

"We find an old, time-soiled paper among 
Bishop Provoost's private manuscripts, labelled 
" A return of persons confirmed in St. George's 
Church, South Hempstead, on "Wednesday, 31st 
October, 1787," and signed by the minister, 
Thomas Lambert Moore. This list includes 
the names of a hundred and fifty-seven — one of 
these, Gilbert, a colored servant of Mr. Joseph 
Clowes. The well-known families of Moore, 
Higby, Tredwell, Wetmore, Thorne, Onder- 
donk, and Kissam, are largely represented. 

Under our form of government there is no 
union of Church and State, and we may bless 
God for it. Where such alliances exist, the 
Church often supports the tottering pillars of 
the State, while the civil power proves a hard 
master to the Church, deadening her energies 
and crippling the freedom of her action. 

It has so happened, from the fact that Gen- 
eral Washington, and the more prominent 
leaders during the Revolution were Church- 
men, and many of our ablest statesmen since, 
have been numbered with us, that on what are 



INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON. 139 

called " State occasions," the Episcopal Church 
has occupied a conspicuous place. Indeed, it 
would be hard to conceive of a grand national 
pageant, in which the religious element was 
introduced, where some of the rites and cere- 
monies of the Church would not be brought 
into requisition. 

We have to describe one of the most inter- 
esting of these occasions. When our present 
government was formed, in 1789, Bishop Pro- 
voost was chosen chaplain of the Senate, and 
in this capacity he was called upon to share in 
the ceremonies appointed for the inauguration 
of George Washington as the first President of 
the United States. This august event took 
place on Thursday, April 30th, in the city of 
]STew York, which was then the seat of gov- 
ernment. 

"At nine o'clock in the morning, there 
were religious services in all the churches, and 
prayers put up for the blessing of Heaven on 
the new government. At twelve o'clock the 
city troops paraded before Washington's door, 
and soon after the committees of Congress and 
heads of departments came in their carriages. 
At half-past twelve the procession moved for- 
ward, preceded by the troops ; next came the 
committees and heads of departments in their 



140 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

carriages ; then Washington, in a coach of 
state, his aid-de-camp, Colonel Humphreys, 
and his secretary, Mr. Lear, in his own car- 
riage. The foreign ministers and a long train 
of citizens brought up the rear. 

" About two hundred yards before reaching 
the hall, Washington and his suite alighted 
from their carriages, and passed through the 
troops, who were drawn up on each side, into 
the hall and senate-chamber, where the Vice- 
President, the Senate, and the House of Repre- 
sentatives were assembled. The Vice-Presi- 
dent, John Adams, recently inaugurated, 
advanced and conducted Washington to a 
chair of state, at the upper end of the room. 
A solemn silence prevailed, when the Vice- 
President rose, and informed him that all 
things were prepared for him to take the oath 
of office required by the Constitution. 

u The oath was to be administered by the 
Chancellor of the State of New York, in a 
balcony in front of the senate-chamber, and in 
full view of an immense multitude occupying 
the street, the windows, and even roofs of the 
adjacent houses. The balcony formed a kind 
of open recess, with lofty columns supporting 
the roof. In the centre was a table with a 
covering of crimson velvet, upon which lay a 



INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON. 141 

superbly bound Bible on a crimson-velvet 
cushion. This was all the paraphernalia for 
the august scene. 

"All eyes were fixed upon the balcony, 
when, at the appointed hour, Washington 
made his appearance, accompanied by various 
public functionaries, and members of the Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives. He was 
clad in a full suit of dark-brown cloth, of 
American manufacture, with a steel-hilted dress 
sword, white silk stockings, and silver shoe- 
buckles. His hair was dressed and powdered 
in the fashion of the day, and worn in a bag 
and solitaire. 

" His entrance on the balcony was hailed by 
universal shouts. He was evidently moved 
by this demonstration of public affection. 
Advancing to the front of the balcony, he laid 
his hand upon his heart, bowed several times, 
and then retreated to an arm-chair near the 
table. The populace appeared to understand 
that the scene had overcome him, and were 
hushed at once into profound silence. 

" After a few moments Washington rose and 
again came forward. John Adams, the Vice- 
President, stood on his right ; on his left the 
Chancellor of the State, Robert R. Livingston ; 
somewhat in the rear were Roger Sherman, 



14:2 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

Alexander Hamilton, Generals Knox and St. 
Clair, the Baron Steuben, and others. 

" The Chancellor advanced to administer the 
oath prescribed by the constitution, and Mr. 
Otis, the secretary of the Senate, held up the 
Bible on its crimson cushion. The oath was 
read slowly and distinctly ; Washington at the 
same time laying his hand on the open Bible. 
When it was concluded, he replied, solemnly, 
* I sw T ear, so help me God.' Mr. Otis would 
have raised the Bible to his lips, but he bowed 
down reverently and kissed it. 

"The Chancellor now stepped forward, 
waved his hand and exclaimed, 'Long live 
George Washington, President of the United 
States !' At this moment a flag was displayed 
on the cupola of the hall ; on which signal 
there was a general discharge of artillery on 
the Battery. All the bells in the city rang 
out a joyful peal, and the multitude rent the 
air with acclamations. 

"Washington again bowed to the people, 
and returned into the senate-chamber, where 
he delivered to both houses of Congress his 
inaugural address, characterized by his usual 
modesty, moderation, and good sense, but 
uttered with a voice deep, slightly tremulous, 
and so low as to demand close attention in the 



mk. boardman's kecollections. 143 

listeners. After this he proceeded with the 
whole assemblage on foot to St. Paul's Church, 
where prayers suited to the occasion were read 
by Dr. Provoost, Bishop of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in New York, who had 
been appointed by the Senate one of the chap- 
lains of Congress. So closed the ceremonies 
of the inauguration."* 

Surely this was an inauguration worthy of a 
Christian country, and happy would it be for 
us, if its religious spirit still continued to mark 
all similar occasions. 

As every thing relating to General Washing- 
ton possesses a permanent interest, we shall 
insert in this place, the account furnished by 
one who enjoyed frequent opportunities of see- 
ing him, while the seat of government con- 
tinued at New York. We refer to the Hon. 
David Sherman Boardman, of New Milford, 
Connecticut. 

" The last time I saw General Washington 
was in May, 1790, during the second session of 
the first Congress under the present Constitu- 
tion ; it being held in New York, and the last 
which was convened in that city. I was then 
in my twenty-second year. My brother, the 

* living's Life of Washington, vol. iv. p. 473. 



144 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

late Elijah Boardman, afterwards, and at tlie 
time of his decease, United States Senator from 
Connecticut, making an excursion to New 
York, I accompanied him in order to see the 
city, which I had never visited, and to take a 
look at Congress, which I had a great desire 
to see in session. 

" We arrived in the city on Saturday even- 
ing. We agreed to go to the church the next 
morning, where we supposed the President 
would attend, for the purpose of seeing him ; 
though we had both seen him while in com- 
mand of the army, and my brother, indeed, 
many years older than myself, had served a 
campaign under his orders. The President 
then resided in the centre house of what was 
called Mr. Combs' block, on the western side 
of Broadway, between Trinity Church and the 
Bowling Green. To accomplish our object, 
we went first to the front of Trinity Church, 
intending to wait there until the President's 
carriage came up, and, if it stopped there, to 
follow him in ; but if it went by, to repair to 
St. Paul's, knowing that he would attend ser- 
vice at one of them. When we reached our 
proposed stand, we found a large number of 
gentlemen occupying the ground, doubtless 
influenced by the same motives with ourselves, 



ME. BOARDMAn's RECOLLECTION'S. 145 

and they had already formed two lines, reach- 
ing from the church door to the middle of the 
street. The President's coach soon came up, 
and stopped at the mouth of the avenue formed 
by the spectators. He stepped out of it with 
his hat (such as he used to wear while in com- 
mand of the army) in his hand, and walked 
through the bowing lines of admiring gazers 
with that gravely serene bearing, and majesty 
of countenance such as, in my estimation, no 
other face ever bore. He was followed by 
Mrs. Washington, escorted by a gentleman of 
the family, and by the private secretary and 
lady. His dress upon the occasion was pre- 
cisely like Stuart's portrait of him (except the 
sword), to wit: black throughout, silk stock- 
ings, and silver-buckled shoes; his hair dressed 
in front just as Stuart's portrait has it ; on the 
back it was inclosed in a black bag of silk 
shift, such as in those days the first magistrates 
of States often wore, if favored with a full and 
flowing head of hair. The entire costume was 
exceeding graceful and becoming. Our seats 
in the church being remote from his, we could 
only see that he was very intent upon his 
Prayer-book, and possessed the air of sincere 
devotion." 

While referring to Washington's attendance 

13 



146 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

at St. Paul's, on the occasion of his inaugura- 
tion, it will not be amiss to add. that at that 
day there were two state-pews with canopies, 
situated under the galleries, about half way 
down the aisles of the chapel, and appropri- 
ated, when Congress and the Legislature met 
in the city, one for the use of the President 
of the United States, and the other for that 
of the Governor of the State. Two old paint- 
ings in antique frames, one of the arms of the 
United States, and the other of the State of 
New York, still hang upon the walls, most in- 
teresting memorials of the past. 



CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 

The first Ordination ever held in New Jersey — Bishop and 
Sector — An anonymous letter — Stabbing in the dark — Com- 
plaints about the preaching in Trinity — General Convention 
of 1789 — Adoption of the Constitution of the Church — Letter 
from Albany — An introduction to the Eev. Thomas Ellison— 
" A portly gentleman in black" — Kind reception given to a 
stranger, and the consequence thereof — A journey of a hun- 
dred and twelve miles, and what missionary work was done 
— Prejudices. 

T T is an interesting fact, that the first 
Ordination ever held in the State of 
New Jersey was one at which Bishop 
Provoost officiated. This took place in 
St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy, July 
9, 1788, when Mr. George EL Spieren 
was admitted to the holy Order of Deacons, 
The candidate was a gentleman of great re- 
spectability and handsome acquirements ; and 
the vestry of St. Peter's having resolved to call 
him as their rector, the Bishop of New York 
kindly acceded to their request that the Ordi- 
nation might take place in their midst. This 
was twenty-seven years before New Jersey 
had a Bishop of her own. 




148 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

Besides his services as the head of the dio- 
cese of New York, we must not lose sight of 
the fact that Bishop Provoost was also Rector 
of Trinity Church. We refer to it in this place, 
in order to introduce an anonymous letter, 
carefully preserved among his papers, which 
was addressed to him by one of his complain- 
ing parishioners. Of all modes of attack, that 
of a communication sent without the writer's 
name is the lowest and the most contemptible. 
In this case, the intentions of the writer seem 
to have been good. We leave the letter to 
speak for itself: 

"Eight Reverend Sir — You are undoubt- 
edly accountable for the morals and virtuous 
principles of every soul in the several congre- 
gations under your superintendence, as far as 
your duty and authority are concerned. It is 
a lamentable truth that the virtues are not un- 
derstood ; and it is to be feared not one in one 
hundred of your congregations can distinctly 
and properly define any one of the virtues. 
This has been asserted without contradiction ; 
and by reason they have not been instructed 
from the pulpit, or privately admonished when 
irregular. Would not a sermon on each of the 
virtues, commencing with a close definition, 



AN ANONYMOUS LETTER. 149 

remove in some degree the objection, especially 
if contrasted with the opposite views? It is 
also remarked that the duty of children to their 
parents is not enforced. Dr. Moore might be 
charged by you to treat those subjects sepa- 
rately and fully. Our persuasion admits of 
morality from the pulpit as well as the preach- 
ing of Christ, and you need not now be afraid 
of censure in consequence of the pains you 
may take to bring the virtues of the human 
mind into fashion and out of oblivion. 

" I am, Reverend Sir, with great esteem and 
regard, your very sincere and true friend, 

" Pythagoras. 

" New Yoke, 23d January." 

The General Convention of 1789, held in 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, was a most im- 
portant one, for then " the Constitution of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America" was adopted and ratified. 
The only Bishops present were Seabury and 
White — Dr. Provoost being kept at home by 
severe indisposition. The Constitution was 
signed, however, by the clerical and Isij depu- 
ties of the diocese of New York, the Rev. Ben- 
jamin Moore, D.D., and the Rev. Abraham 
Beach, D.D., and Richard Harison, Esq. 
13* 



150 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

We find a letter written to Bishop Provoost, 
the same year of the General Convention, by 
the Rev. Thomas Ellison, then Hector of St. 
Peter's, Albany, which is interesting, as show- 
ing the condition of the Church in that im- 
portant place. This gentleman was a native 
of England, and a graduate of Cambridge, and 
took charge of the parish in Albany in 1787. 
He was remarkable for his ready wit and genial 
disposition, and was a great favorite in social 
life. He died in 1802. 

When Philander Chase (afterwards the pio- 
neer Bishop of the Church in the Western 
States) went to Albany in 1795, an inexperi- 
enced young man, without letters of com- 
mendation, and with hardly a shilling in his 
pocket, he thus introduces us to the Rector of 
St. Peter's : — " Having passed Market he en- 
tered Court street, and, stopping at c Wendal's 
Hotel,' inquired, ' Where lives the Rev. Thomas 
Ellison, the Episcopal clergyman V ' What — 
the English dominie V replied a friendly voice ; 
' you will go up State-street, pass the English 
stone church, which stands in the middle of 
that street, and as you go up the hill, turn the 
second corner to the right ; there lives the 
English dominie, the Rev. Mr. Ellison, in a 
newly-built white house, the only one on the 



REV. THOMAS ELLISON. 151 

block, or clay bank.' It was, indeed, just so ; 
and the writer mounted the plank door-steps, 
and with a trembling hand knocked at the 
door of the Rector of St. Peter's, Albany. ' Is 
this the Key. Mr. Ellison V said the writer, as 
the top of a Dutch-built door was opened by a 
portly gentleman in black, with prominent and 
piercing eyes, and powdered hair, f My name 
is Ellison,' said he, ' and I crave yours.' Giv- 
ing his name, the writer said, ' I have come 
from New Hampshire, the place of my nativity, 
and being very desirous of becoming a candi- 
date for holy orders, I will be much obliged 
for your advice.' Mr. Ellison then said, ' God 
bless you ! walk in.' This was a crisis of un- 
speakable importance to the writer. Verily 
doth he believe that, had the reception now 
given been otherwise than that of marked 
good-will and condescending kindness, the 
whole course of the writer's life would have 
been changed. A rebuff would have turned 
his face another way. 

" As it was a plain story, answering the taste 
of a candid, upright mind, all things assumed 
a pleasing aspect. The offer of an appoint- 
ment as a teacher in the city school, just then 
opened, and the free access to a well-chosen 
theological library, made the writer by this 



152 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

pious and learned gentleman, are instances of 
a merciful Providence never to be forgotten. 

u Mr. Ellison was but one of tlie three trus- 
tees ; of course the appointment could not be 
considered certain till confirmed by the board : 
and in the interim, to be on expense in the city- 
would not be advisable. l A Sunday will in- 
tervene,' said he ; ' and as you say you have 
been accustomed to read the service among 
your friends in New Hampshire, why not do 
the like in this neighborhood ? There are a few 
Church people in Troy; suppose you spend the 
Lord's-day there as a lay-reader f Your com- 
mission so to do will not be inferior to that of 
others. Take a manuscript sermon of mine, 
and if you can read it, do so.' This address 
and proposition to the writer were truly affect- 
ing. The remembrance thereof is still fresh 
on his mind. That it should be offered by a 
venerable and experienced gentleman to a 
stranger who had little or nothing to com- 
mend him to his favor, and that it should 
be made at a time when no other way was 
opened to defray inevitable expenses, w^as 
truly strange."* 

And now that w^e know Mr. Ellison, we shall 

* Bishop Chase's Keminiscences, vol. i. p. 19, &c. 



LETTER TO BISHOP PROVOOST. 153 

be better prepared to enjoy his letter to Bishop 
Provoost : 

" Albany, May 9, 1789. 

" Right Rev. Father — As it will be neces- 
sary to make alterations in the Liturgy with 
respect to the President, &c., I take the liberty 
of requesting your instructions and orders. 

" I am happy to have it in my power to in- 
form you that our Church has made a great 
increase ; and should it continue to be kept 
together, I have not a doubt but that many 
congregations would be formed about us ; and 
yet, as its resources are so trifling and preca- 
rious, I fear I must resolve, from considerations 
of prudence, to quit my charge. If my situa- 
tion were more comfortable in that respect, I 
flatter myself that I could render essential ser- 
vices to the Church in general, for I have it 
close at heart, and should then have it more 
in my power to collect its scattered members 
into bodies. 

" Since my residence here, I have christened 
exactly one hundred and ten children. In 
January last I made an extensive journey, and 
christened twelve children ; and had I been 
able to have spent a fortnight longer in the 
excursion, I suppose should have christened at 
least forty. The distance I went was one hun- 



154 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

dred and twelve miles — a journey of four days, 
through, a very wild country, which afforded 
most uncomfortable accommodations; but it 
afforded me a very high degree of pleasure to 
find that many of our Church were scattered 
throughout, who would not relinquish the hope 
of being able at some, though perhaps a dis- 
tant period, to see churches established. I 
found that many of them had got children 
christened by ministers of other churches, de- 
spairing of the opportunity which my visit 
afforded, and, as I promised them to make a 
second visit during this summer, if I remain 
here, and should I find that I could afford to 
do so, I have not a doubt but that many will 
be offered to receive that Institution. 

" When I first settled here, I found the preju- 
dices of the generality of people running very 
high against our Church ; for the Presbyterians 
and the Dutch ministers, who are very warmly 
attached to them, had spoken of it neither with 
charity nor respect. These prejudices now be- 
gin to subside, and their insidious purposes 
begin to operate in favor, rather than in dis- 
service, as they were intended. 

" If our congregation were able to make cer- 
tain necessary repairs, with regard to turning 
the pews, I am certain we might have the num- 



LETTER TO BISHOP PROVOOST. 155 

ber very advantageously increased, and have 
not a doubt but that the congregation would 
be increased by one fourth. 

" Mrs. Ellison desires me to present her very 
respectful compliments to yourself, Mrs. Pro- 
voost, and family, in which I cannot but join 
most cordially. 

"We hope to have the pleasure of seeing 
Mrs. Provoost with you when you extend your 
visitation hither ; and I must beg leave to know 
when that will be convenient. 

u I am, Right Rev. Father, 

" With all duty and respect, 

" T. Ellison." 



CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 

The first published list of the Clergy of New York — An im- 
portant point which is established by a reference to these 
fifteen names — Noble gift to the church at Duanesburgh — 
General Convention of 1792 — Bishop Provoost presides — A 
Bishop consecrated for Maryland — Three other General Con- 
ventions briefly noticed — Death of Washington — Some inter- 
esting things in a note — Funeral services in St. Paul's Chapel 
— The grand procession — Funeral urn — Gouverneur Morris's 
oration — The Bishop's prayer. 

LTHOUGH we have in our possession 
a complete set of the early Journals 
of the Diocese of New York, we have 
been able to gather but little from 
their meagre records of names and 
dates which would interest our read- 
ers. The first published list of the clergy is 
found in the Journal of 1791, and contains 
fifteen names. Six of these clergymen were 
ordained in England, seven by Bishop Pro- 
voost, and two by Bishop Seabury. 

It has sometimes been asserted, very posi- 
tively, that Bishop Provoost denied the validity 
of the consecration which Dr. Seabury had re- 
ceived at the hands of the Scottish Bishops. 
But this is disproved by two facts : first, that 




GENERAL CONVENTION OF 1792. 157 

he received those as settled clergymen into his 
diocese whom Bishop Seabury had ordained ; 
and secondly, because he consented that the 
Bishop of Connecticut should take part with 
him in the consecration of Dr. Claggett for the 
diocese of Maryland. 

Bishop Provoost had the pleasure of an- 
nouncing to his Convention, in 1793, that he 
had consecrated a church at Duanesburgh, 
" erected solely by Judge Duane, at the ex- 
pense of upwards of eight hundred pounds, 
exclusively of the lot of ground on which it 
stands." Happy is the man whose heart thus 
deviseth liberal things for the glory of God's 
name! 

The General Convention of 1792 met in 
Trinity Church, New York, four Bishops being 
in attendance, viz., Bishops Seabury, Provoost, 
White, and Madison. Bishop Provoost pre- 
sided.* He also acted as the consecrator when, 
during the session of this great council, Dr. 
Claggett was set apart for the office of Bishop 
in the diocese of Maryland — the other three 

* As it is needless to be repeating, in each volume, facts 
which have been mentioned before, we must beg the reader to 
turn to the Lives of White, Seabury, and Claggett, for particu- 
lars in regard to the adoption of the rule which determines who 
shall preside in the House of Bishops, and other points of this 
nature. 

14 



158 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

Bishops sharing in the solemnities of the oc- 
casion. Bishop Provoost preached before the 
General Convention of 1795 ; and during its 
session, the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, Sep- 
tember 13th, he united with Bishops White, 
Madison, and Claggett, in Christ Church, Phil- 
adelphia, in the consecration of Dr. Robert 
Smith for South Carolina. In the same church, 
May 7, 1797, he united with Bishops White 
and Claggett in the consecration of Dr. Edward 
Bass for Massachusetts. On the Feast of St.. 
Luke, the Evangelist, October 18, 1797, he 
united with Bishops White and Bass in the 
consecration of Dr. Abraham Jarvis, for Con- 
necticut — Bishop Seabury having died on the 
25th of February in the preceding year. In 
the General Convention of 1799, on motion of 
Bishop Provoost, proceedings were had which 
resulted in the adoption of " The Form of Con- 
secration of a Church or Chapel." 

The year 1799 was that in which General 
Washington died. We not only honor and 
love him because he did so much for our coun- 
try, but we also rejoice because he died in the 
communion of tile Holy Apostolic Church, of 
which it is our privilege to be members.* 

* On the 5th of April, 1732, an old-fashioned christening took 
place at the house of Mr. Augustine Washington, Westmoreland 



OBSEQUIES OF WASHINGTON. 159 

The following interesting account of the 
funeral obsequies of this illustrious man, as 
performed in St. Paul's Chapel, is given by 

county, Virginia. The English clergyman was there, with his 
gown and bands, and large Prayer-book ; Mr. Beverly Whiting 
and Captain Christopher Brooke standing as godfathers, and 
Mrs. Mildred Gregory godmother. So the record runs in the 
old family Bible belonging to the Washingtons. 

But who was now to be received as a soldier of the Cross in 
this holy ordinance of the Church ? " Name this child," said 
the clergyman, turning to Mr. Washington. " George," was 
the brief reply. That name is now emblazoned on the brightest 
pages of history. 

The parents of Washington were strict Churchmen, and the 
little boy was most carefully trained in the Catechism, according 
to the system which Bishop Meade has so graphically described 
in his account of the old churches of Virginia. He was to be 
seen, on each occasion of public worship, in the parish church, 
known to this day as " Pope's Creek Church," bearing his part 
in the solemn services. 

When Washington became a man, his calling as a soldier and 
a statesman was never allowed to make him neglectful of his 
religious duties. The habit of prayer once formed in infancy, 
was continued until the close of life. He used his influence on 
every suitable occasion to secure the appointment of chaplains 
for the army ; and at the burial of soldiers, when no clergyman 
was present, he read, in his own majestic way, the beautiful 
funeral service from the Prayer-book. He also, now and then, 
conducted service on Sundays as a layman. Many interesting 
accounts have been given of his devout behavior while worship- 
ping in St. Paul's Church, New York, Christ Church, Phila- 
delphia, and various churches in Virginia. 

Among the papers of Washington which have been preserved 
are lists of articles which he sent for to England. In these we 
often notice items showing the affection he felt for his step- 
children, John and Patsey Custis. Thus, when Master Custis 



160 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

James Hardie, in his "Description of New 
York :"— " On the 13th of December, 1799, the 
illustrious General Washington quit this mortal 
existence, at Mount Yernon, after a few days' 

had reached his eighth year, General Washington orders for 
him a neat Bible and Prayer-book, to be "bound in Turkey, 
with John Parke Custis wrote in gilt letters on the inside of 
the cover." The same precious books were provided for Mar- 
tha Parke Custis, in her sixth year. 

Among the volumes which General Washington inherited 
from his father was one entitled " Short Discourses upon the 
whole Common Prayer." It bears plain marks of having been 
used by the son, as well as by his father before him. It was 
probably from this very book that he used to read aloud, on 
such occasions as the one referred to by the late George W. 
Parke Custis : " On Sundays, unless the Weather was uncom- 
monly severe, the President and Mrs. Washington attended 
Divine service at Christ Church, Philadelphia ; and in the even- 
ing he read to Mrs. Washington, in her chamber, a sermon, or 
some portion from the Sacred Word." 

Washington's religious training had all been directed by the 
Prayer-book. In the pure and holy faith which it had taught 
him he always lived ; and cheered by the glorious hope of the 
Gospel, he was ready to die. 

His last sickness was a short and painful one ; and during his 
closing hours he w T as heard to say, "I should have been glad, 
had it pleased God, to die a little easier, but I doubt not it is 
for my good." He closed his eyes with his own hands, folded 
his arms decently on his breast, and with the child-like petition, 
''''Father of mercies, take me to thyself" he fell asleep. This was 
December 15th, 1799. On the 22d of May, 1802, Mrs. Washing- 
ton followed him to a better world. She received the sacrament 
for the last time from the Eev. Thomas Davis, Eector of Christ 
Church, Alexandria ; and then, having bestowed her farewell 
benediction upon her weeping relations, her soul took its de- 
parture from the earth. 



OBSEQUIES OF WASHINGTON. 161 

illness. This event occasioned great lamenta- 
tion throughout every part of the United 
States, and nowhere were the manifestations 
of sorrow more apparent than in this city. On 
the 31st of December, agreeably to previous 
arrangements, the whole of the military be- 
longing to the city, with many from the neigh- 
boring counties, the Masonic lodges, the most 
respectable societies, foreigners of distinction, 
the honorable the common council, and an 
immense concourse of citizens, joined in pro- 
cession from the Park, where it was formed, 
through most of the principal streets to St. 
Paul's Church. The military marched in re- 
versed order, and with reversed arms, to sol- 
emn music, while the bells tolled, and minute- 
guns were fired from the battery. The whole 
of the business was conducted with the utmost 
solemnity, and in such a manner as to leave a 
deep impression on the minds of the citizens of 
the irreparable loss which they had sustained 
in the death of their common father. The pro- 
cession went on in awful stillness, and there 
were few indeed in whose countenances the 
gloom of sadness was not depicted. The rev- 
erend the clergy walked in full dress, with 
white scarfs; and twenty-four beautiful girls, 
in white robes, scarfs, and turbans, strewed 
14* 



162 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

laurels as they went along. The funeral urn, 
with its decorations, was supported by eight 
soldiers (with others attending for relief) upon 
a bier, in form of a palanquin, six feet by four. 
This elegant assemblage of emblems consisted 
of a superb funeral urn three feet in height, a 
spread eagle with his wings drooping, and 
several others equally appropriate, which my 
limits do not permit me to mention. 

" As soon as the procession had been seated 
in the church, music suited to the occasion was 
performed, a prayer was offered up to the 
Most High by the Right Reverend Bishop 
Provoost, and an oration on the character and 
history of the deceased was delivered by the 
late Honorable Gouverneur Morris. After the 
solemn services of the temple had concluded, 
the bier was deposited in the cemetery, and the 
last military honors performed over it." 

We close the chapter with the prayer 
offered on this interesting occasion, which we 
find among Bishop Provoost's private papers, 
in his own handwriting : 

"Almighty God, with whom do live the 
spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, 
and with whom the souls of the faithful, after 
they are delivered from the burden of the 
flesh, are in joy and felicity ; we give Thee 



PRAYER BY BISHOP PR0V00ST. 163 

hearty thanks for the good examples of all 
those Thy servants who, having finished their 
course in faith, do now rest from their labors. 
We laud and magnify Thy glorious name for 
the eminent virtues exerted in our behalf in 
sundry times of difficulty and danger by Thy 
deceased servant, the late commander-in-chief 
of the armies of these United States. May 
the invaluable services he has rendered to his 
country impress us with due gratitude for the 
fatherly protection which, through him, Thou 
hast extended to us. May the recollection of 
them be an incentive to those who shall suc- 
ceed him in the high and important offices of 
State, and may posterity, while they shall 
inherit the lustre of his name, enjoy the bene- 
fit of his life, in a continuance of the happy 
consequences of his labors, and in a succession 
of great and good men, to Thy glory and the 
prosperity of Thy people, to the end of time. 
Finally, O merciful God, we humbly beseech 
Thee that the due and heartfelt tribute of re- 
spect now paid to the memory of our beloved 
and revered fellow-citizen, our friend, our 
father, and defender, may excite in us all an 
holy emulation to imitate his piety, patriotism, 
and virtue ; and that, by deserving well of our 
country here, we may at the general resurrec- 



164 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

tion in the last day be found acceptable in 
Thy sight, and receive, together with him, that 
blessing which Thy well-beloved Son shall then 
pronounce to all who love and fear Thee, say- 
ing, ' Come ye blessed children of my Father, 
receive the kingdom prepared for you from 
the beginning of the world.' Grant this, we 
beseech Thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus 
Christ, our Mediator and Eedeemer." 



CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 

"What natural inclination would have led Bishop Provoost to 
do — The effects of bereavement upon his troubled mind — 
Kind letter of condolence — Dr. Stanford and his son — Bishop 
Provoost retires to private life — Election of his successor — A 
most important act somewhat unfolded at large — Chosen to 
one office, and consecrated to another — Years pass away be- 
fore the evils of this legislation were felt — The new Bishop 
enters upon his work. 

^T was not natural to Bishop Provoost to 
be very active or energetic, and the 
duties of his office were often burden- 
some to him, and the temptation was 
strong to retire at once to the quiet 
of a well-furnished library, where his 
earlier years had been passed. But in addi- 
tion to this, sorrow and bereavement had 
bowed him to the earth, and even a man of 
more abundant zeal might have found it 
difficult to nerve himself for the multiplying 
engagements belonging to his high station. 

In August, 1789, Mrs. Provoost departed 
this life, after a long and lingering illness ; and 
in the ensuing July, he followed to the grave 




166 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

his younger and favorite son, who came to a 
most distressing end, while his cup of misery 
was filled to the brim by the conduct of his 
only surviving son. 

Kind friends sympathized with him in his 
troubles, and among them was the venerable 
Dr. Stanford,* a Baptist minister, who wrote 
to the Bishop the following letter of condo- 
lence : 

" July 18, 1800. 

" Right Reverend and Dear Sir — You will 
gratify me by accepting the second volume of 
the Christian's Pocket Library, which accom- 
panies this. Its publication has been unavoid- 
ably delayed until this week. • 

" Permit me to offer you my condolence 
under your recent domestic sorrow. You 

* He was born in England in 1754, and came to America in 
1786. Besides his other labors, Dr. Stanford was for thirty- 
years chaplain to the municipal institutions of New York City. 
He married a daughter of Abraham Ten Eyck, one of the ves- 
try of Trinity Church. This accounts for the bias which the 
children received towards the Episcopal Church. Mr. Thomas 
N. Stanford (a son of this venerable Baptist minister) was for 
many years associated with the Messrs. Swords in the Church 
Bookstore, of famous memory, a place to which so many of 
the clergy were wont to resort. Dr. Stanford and Bishop Pro- 
voost were on intimate terms, and Bishop Hobart cherished 
such kindly feelings towards the son, that he appointed him 
one of the executors of his will. Dr. Stanford died at the age 
of eighty-one years. 



LETTER OF CONDOLENCE. 167 

need not for me to tell you, that, however 
severe the circumstances attending your afflic- 
tion, the whole were under the eye of that in- 
finitely wise God, who is your Father, Lord, 
and Friend. I know nature must recoil, and 
bend beneath so great a stroke ; but faith lifts 
her head even in an Eli's breast, when his 
sons were slain, and cries, ' It is the Lord, let 
him do what seemeth him good.' How could 
you and I attempt to comfort others with the 
consolation with which we are comforted of 
God, did we not often go down into the pit of 
sorrow ? But, ah ! how little do our people 
imagine at what a high cost we obtain the 
consolatory advice we offer them in public! 
Well, it is the way of the Lord whom we wish 
to serve, and when we are in our best frame, 
w-e would not stay His hand, but be content. 
' His way should be in the whirlwind and in 
the storm.' However sharp the barbed arrow, 
it was surely dipped in parental love before it 
bounded from the bow, and, in a little while, 
may yield its sweets to your depressed heart. 
Come a few more tears, a few more sorrows, 
a few more acts of kindness to the poor and 
needy ; then come death, come angels, come 
eternity, come a Saviour's arms to enfold us in 
infinite delights! To the protecting care of 



168 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

that most compassionate Saviour, who has 
been my guide and comfort in deepest sorrows, 
I commit you, and remain your sympathizing 
and affectionate friend, 

" John Stanford. 

"Permit me, dear sir, to submit to your 
perusal, the first leisure hour, the Dialogue in 
number three, page one hundred and twenty- 
one. It may tend to alleviate your mind." 

No doubt Bishop Provoost felt that it would 
be impossible for him to attend to his official 
duties, and, accordingly, in September, 1800, 
he resigned the rectorship of Trinity Church. 
The Convention of the Diocese, which had not 
been called together for three years, was sum- 
moned to meet on the 3d of September, 1801, 
when he also relinquished his Episcopal juris- 
diction. His last ordination had been held in 
the preceding April, the Rev. John Henry 
Hobart being then admitted to the Priest- 
hood. 

Bishop Provoost's successor in both of the 
important offices which he left, was the Eev. 
Benjamin Moore, D. D., then one of the assist- 
ant ministers of Trinity Church. "His election 
as Bishop by the Convention of the State took 
place September 5, 1801, and on the 11th of 



RESIGNATION OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 169 

the same month the House of Bishops, who 
were in session at Trenton, notwithstanding 
they demurred as to the validity of the resig- 
nation of Bishop Provoost, nevertheless pro- 
ceeded to consecrate his successor. The im- 
portance of this act requires it to be unfolded 
somewhat at large. The letter of Bishop Pro- 
voost, bringing the matter before the House of 
Bishops, stated simply the fact of a resignation 
already made to the State Convention, 'in- 
duced,' as he says, 'by ill health, afflictive 
occurrences, and an ardent wish to retire from 
all public employment.' It was a new case in 
our ecclesiastical polity, involving most im- 
portant results, and requiring correspondent 
deliberation. But time for such deliberation 
could not be given ; the question came upon 
them unexpectedly, and required, at the same 
time, immediate action. 

" In this emergency, the House of Bishops, 
pressed alike by the necessity of the case, and 
the canonical call upon them for the consecration 
of Dr. Moore, and their fear, at the same time, 
of sanctioning, by so doing, an unqualified 
right of resignation in a Bishop, with a view 
to meet both difficulties, took a half-way 
course, which, like all such, where principle is 
involved, and as the result eventually proved^ 

15 



170 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

was a most unwise one, multiplying, instead of 
removing, the evils before them. They pro- 
tested against the resignation, and yet acted 
upon it; ' judged it,' to use their own lan- 
guage, ' inconsistent with the sacred trust 
committed to them, to recognize the Bishop's 
act as an effectual resignation of his Episcopal 
jurisdiction;' yet, with a 'nevertheless,' pro- 
ceeded to vitiate their own reasoning, by con- 
secrating one whose election was not valid, but 
upon the supposition of such resignation being 
good, since Dr. Moore had been elected, not 
' assistant Bishop,' but simply the ' Bishop of 
the Diocese of New York.' Still, however, 
they desire, as they say, to be ' explicit in 
their declaration that they shall consider such 
person as assistant, or coadjutor Bishop, during 
Bishop Provoost's life.' 

" Bishop Moore was consecrated accordingly, 
— chosen to one office and consecrated to an- 
other. Here was, evidently, a question of con- 
flicting jurisdiction, and one in which un- 
questionably, the House of Bishops took up 
a wrong position. The right of a Bishop to 
resign his spiritual character and functions is a 
question of speculative divinity, but his right 
to resign his local jurisdiction is one of consti- 
tution and law, a free and natural right, except 



UNWISE LEGISLATION. 171 

in so far as some law of the Church should, or 
had, set a limit to it. 

"It would seem, from the scruples of the 
House of Bishops, either that the two ques- 
tions were not viewed by them sufficiently 
distinct, or else, that seeing the evils that 
would attend an unlimited right, and perceiv- 
ing also that the whole subject was a 'casus 
omissus* in their constitution, they were willing 
by one act both to make the law and regulate 
the case. 

" In another point of view, with all due sub- 
mission it may be said, they were also in error. 
"Whenever power is resigned, it must be re- 
signed to those who give it ; now the right of 
local jurisdiction came from the State Conven- 
tion, not from the act of consecration ; for, if 
otherwise, then the House of Bishops would 
have been competent to impose on the Diocese 
of New York a Bishop w T ho had not been 
elected by them. But if such power they did 
not possess, neither had they, at least not by 
any inherent powers, as their w^ords would im- 
ply, the right to stand in the way of his resigna- 
tion. If such license on the part of a Bishop 
be inexpedient, it must be controlled consti- 
tutionally, as by the wisdom of the General 
Convention has since been done. 



172 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

" But years passed before the evils were felt 
to which this act of legislation, or rather this 
extra legislative opinion, thus opened the door. 

" Bishop Provoost was sincere in his desire 
for retirement, and meddled not in the affairs 
of the diocese ; while Bishop Moore was not 
a man to provoke hostility, either personal or 
official. In the mean time, Bishop Moore pro- 
ceeded to enter upon the duties of his office 
with general, or rather, universal acceptable- 



* McVickar's Professional Years of Hobart, p. 199, etc. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 

Bishop Provoost in retirement — Bishop Moore's illness — An 
assistant chosen — Hindrances in the way of his Consecration 
— All difficulties arranged — An immense assembly held in 
suspense — " He's come !" " Thank God !" — Something about 
wigs — Bitter opposition to Bishop Hobart's election — Bishop 
Provoost persuaded to do a very inconsistent thing — Difficul- 
ties in Maryland — Firm and resolute once more — Sudden 
death — Funeral — Extract from Bishop Hobart's Convention 
address — Traits of character — A trying case — Conclusion. 

IMMEDIATELY after his resignation of 
the charge of the diocese, Bishop Pro- 
voost went into strict retirement, and, 
for ten years, never engaged in any 
public ministrations. In 1811, his suc- 
cessor, Bishop Moore, was attacked by 
paralysis, and as there was no prospect that he 
would be able to resume the active duties of 
his office, he called a special Convention, to 
take into consideration the election of an as- 
sistant Bishop. The time for this meeting was 
so arranged, that in case an assistant should be 
chosen, he might be consecrated at the General 
Convention which was to assemble at New 
Haven on the 21st of May. 
15* 




174 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

Accordingly, on the 14th of the month, the 
special Convention of the Diocese of New York 
met in Trinity Church ; and after the celebra- 
tion of Morning Prayers by the venerable 
"Father Nash," and a sermon by the Rev. 
David Butler of Troy, the important business 
was introduced, and after due deliberation, the 
Rev. John Henry Hobart was elected Assistant 
Bishop. 

It so happened, however, that the consecra- 
tion could not be consummated at the General 
Convention. There were only six Bishops in 
the United States, and of these, Bishops White 
and Jarvis were the only ones present. Bishop 
Provoost, whose health had long been feeble, 
was, at this time, more than usually indisposed. 
Bishop Madison, of Virginia, strange to say, 
had almost abandoned the Church in his dio- 
cese, and confined himself to his duties as 
President of William and Mary College. 
Bishop Claggett, of Maryland, who had set 
out for New Haven was obliged, by sickness, 
to return. Bishop Moore, of New York, as 
we have already noticed, was prostrated by 
paralysis. 

Surely this was a dark day for the Church, 
but her Divine Head never will forsake her. 

"Besides Dr. Hobart, there was another 



ALL DIFFICULTIES AKRANGED. 175 

Bishop elect waiting consecration, the Kev. 
Alexander Viets Griswold, who had been 
elected Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, a con- 
federacy which had been formed by the sev- 
eral dioceses east of Connecticut. 

" Bishop Provoost promised to attend the 
consecration if he possibly could, should it be 
held in this city. To this Bishops White and 
Jarvis of course consented, and came on for 
the purpose immediately after the adjournment 
of the Convention. Should Bishop Provoost 
prove unable to attend, it was in contemplation 
to have the consecration in Bishop Moore's 
chamber ; where, although unable to leave his 
house, he might unite in it. Happily, this 
extreme alternative was not required. Al- 
though, during the past few days, Bishop Pro- 
voost had suffered a relapse, yet, on the day 
appointed for the consecration, "Wednesday, 
May 29th, he was able to repair to Trinity 
Church. The immense congregation there as- 
sembled was very generally deeply impressed 
with the solemnity and importance of the 
crisis. It was probably, as it turned out to 
be, the last time that three of the then Bishops 
of our Church could be assembled. When it 
was ascertained that Bishop Provoost had ac- 
tually arrived at the church, there was a thrill 



176 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

of emotion throughout the assemblage. 'He's 
come P ' Thanh GodP were audibly whispered 
ejaculations. He remained in the vestry -room 
until the close of the Morning Prayer. It was 
the original expectation and intention that he 
should continue there until after the sermon, 
and enter the chancel in time to unite with 
Bishop Jarvis in presenting the Bishops elect 
to Bishop White. Feeling, however, able to 
join the other Bishops at an earlier period, 
and to take part in the ante-communion ser- 
vice, and particularly desirous of once more 
hearing a sermon from his old friend, Bishop 
White, he entered the church after the close of 
Morning Prayer. He read the Epistle. It 
could be heard, and that with difficulty, by 
those only who were near the chancel. But 
the appearance of the venerable man,* his 

* Increased in reverential interest by his wearing, as he only, 
it is believed, of all our Bishops ever wore, the large English 
Episcopal wig. Bishop White said that, at the joint consecra- 
tion of himself and Bishop Provoost, the latter having procured 
a wig, the former preferred dispensing with it, although his old 
friend, the Rev. Mr. Duche, his predecessor in his Philadelphia 
rectorship, then in England, offered the use of his for the occa- 
sion. The then peculiarity of consecration without a wig, and 
of a Bishop's appearing in his proper habit without one, was 
the subject of conversation at the Archbishop's after the ser- 
vices, when it appeared that Bishop White had precedent in 
the case of no less a personage than Archbishop Tillotson, 
whose portrait, among those at the palace, was without a wig. 



BITTER OPPOSITION. 177 

visage somewhat marred with palsy, and dis- 
colored by jaundice, and then seen in public 
ministration for the first time in nearly ten 
years, by many who had been of his flock, 
doubtless produced quite as solemnizing an 
effect, and this even increased by the difficulty 
or impossibility of hearing him, as would the 
most audible, and most rhetorically enunciated, 
words of the Holy Book. A circumstance, ac- 
cidental in itself, but made the subject of much 
controversy, occurred at this consecration. In 
both cases, those of Bishop Hobart and Bishop 
Griswold, Bishop White, through strange mis- 
recollection and inadvertence, omitted, in the 
consecrating form, the words, ' In the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen. 5 

" A bitter opposition had been made to Bishop 
Hobart's election, on personal grounds. It was 
strengthened, on party grounds, by the small 
number of Low- Churchmen in the diocese. 
This omission of Bishop White was immediate- 
ly seized on by this party as evidence of the 
invalidity of the consecration. That this was 
purely a party ebullition, was shown by the 
fact, that although the omission of the above 
words occurred in Bishop Griswold's case, as 
well as Bishop Hobart's, its supposed invali- 



178 LIFE OF BISHOP PKOVOOST. 

dation was never alleged against the former. 
The circumstance led to a published discussion. 
The venerable Dr. Bowden, who, from the ex- 
cellence of his character and the soundness of 
his principles, was, of course, Bishop Hobart's 
friend, first published a pamphlet to prove that 
the omission did not invalidate the consecra- 
tion. This was followed by a pamphlet, in 
defence and enlargement of Dr. Bowden's, by 
Bishop Hob art. The connection of the subject 
with the endeavors made by Papists and ultra- 
Protestants to prove, from Archbishop Parker's 
consecration, the non-existence in England of 
the ' Apostolic Succession,' gave it peculiar 
interest. 

" But this miserable effort to produce discord 
entirely failed. Bishop Hobart and Bishop 
Griswold passed through their respective valu- 
able courses of official life, without any ques- 
tion worthy of regard as to the validity of their 
claims to the Episcopal office. 

" The opposition to Bishop Hobart, however, 
was not to be easily put down. The opposing 
party had managed to enlist Bishop Provoost 
in their behalf. It was no secret that this was 
effected through influences exerted upon one on 
whose intellect age and disease had laid their 
weakening hand. He was induced to lay claim, 



DIFFICULTIES IN MARYLAND. 179 

at the Diocesan Convention of 1812, to being 
still the Bishop of the diocese, on the ground 
of the opinion expressed by Bishop Moore's 
consecrators. The claim was rejected by an 
act of the Convention, without a dissenting 
voice, by the clergy ; and by a lay vote of 36 
ayes, 2 noes, and one divided. Three clergy- 
men — all of whom became afterwards Bishop 
Hobart's decided friends, but who had suffered 
themselves to be drawn into opposition to him, 
and into favor of Bishop Provoost's claim — 
4 were excused from voting, and expressed 
their determination to submit to the decision 
of the Convention.' "* 

However much we must regret the part 
which Bishop Provoost was thus induced to 
take, we are happy, before bringing this biog- 
raphy to a close, to state something to his 
credit, which may help us to overlook his mis- 
takes of judgment, and his apparent neglect 
of the claims of duty. 

When Bishop Claggett of Maryland became 
disabled by disease, and applied for an assistant 
Bishop, Dr. James Kemp was elected, and con- 
secrated to this office, in 1814. A turbulent 
party in the diocese were so bitterly opposed 

* Churchman's Magazine, vol. i. p. 629, &c. 



180 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

to the assistant that they refused to submit to 
his authority, and actually went so far as to 
elect one of their number as Bishop, and made 
application to Bishop Provoost, and others, to 
consecrate this leader of a schism, that he might 
set up a jurisdiction in Maryland distinct from 
that of Bishop Kemp. It is enough to say 
concerning this unhappy affair, that Bishop 
Provoost treated the proposition with such 
marked contempt, that he would not conde- 
scend to answer it.* 

We have but a few more words to add. 
Bishop Provoost suffered from occasional at- 
tacks of apoplexy, and died very suddenly of 
one of these fits, on the 6th of September, 1815, 
aged seventy-three years and six months. The 
funeral services were held in Trinity Church, 
the Rev. Thomas Y. How reading the Psalms 
and Lessons, the Rev. William Harris, Rector 
of St. Mark's Church, preaching an appropriate 
sermon, and the concluding prayers being of- 
fered at the place of interment (the family vault 
in the churchyard), by the Rev. Cave Jones. 
Bishop Hob art thus refers to the departure of 



* Full particulars concerning this attempted schism in the 
Church are given in the Life of Bishop Claggett, in this series, 
p. 125, and the Life of Bishop Henshaw, p. 62. 



BISHOP HOBART'S CONVENTION ADDRESS. 181 

the venerable Prelate, in his address to the 
Convention of 1815 : 

" The Eight Rev. Bishop Provoost has very 
recently departed this life. To the benevo- 
lence and urbanity that marked all his inter- 
course with his clergy, and indeed every social 
relation, there is strong and universal testi- 
mony ; and with respect to the manner that 
marked his official intercourse, there can be 
no testimony more interesting than that of the 
venerable Bishop of our Church in Pennsyl- 
vania, who, on a public occasion, several years 
since, referring to the intimate relation between 
himself and Bishop Provoost, introduced the 
sentiment, that ' delegation to the same civil 
office is a ground on which benevolence and 
friendly offices may be expected;' and then 
remarked, i How much more sacred is a rela- 
tion between two persons who, under the ap- 
pointment of a Christian Church, had been 
successfully engaged together in obtaining for 
it the Succession to the Apostolic Office of the 
Episcopacy; who, in the subsequent exercise 
of that Episcopacy, had jointly labored in all 
the ecclesiastical business which has occurred 
among us ; and who, through the whole of it, 
never knew a word, or even a sensation, tend- 
ing to personal dissatisfaction or disunion !' 

16 



182 LIFE OF BISHOP PROVOOST. 

Bishop Provoost was a man who commanded 
great respect from the community at large; 
and his philanthropy, patriotism, and benevo- 
lence secured for him many devoted friends. 
He entered the ministry at a time when energy 
and zeal were at a low ebb ; and we cannot 
give him credit for having done much to quick- 
en the life of the Church, although we must 
gratefully remember that he was one of those 
who helped to secure for us the blessings of 
the Episcopate." 

" Bishop Provoost, as I remember him," 
says Mr. George B. Rapelye, " was rather 
above than below the medium height, and was 
somewhat inclined to corpulency, though he 
had, on the whole, a fine commanding person. 
His face was round and full, and had some- 
thing of the ton vivant about it ; which was 
not at all strange, considering what were the 
social and festive usages of that day. He had 
a strong, intelligent cast of countenance, which 
was well fitted to command attention and re- 
spect. As might have been expected from his 
early training, and from his having always been 
accustomed to move in the higher circles, his 
manners were those of an accomplished gentle- 
man. He was graceful, social, self-possessed, 
and thoroughly acquainted with all the forms 



A TRYING CASE — CONCLUSION. 183 

of polished society. I am not aware that Bishop 
Provoost was ever considered as greatly dis- 
tinguished for his intellectual powers ; and yet 
I think he was always looked upon in this re- 
spect as considerably above mediocrity."* 

In the relations of husband and father, he 
exhibited all the kindly and endearing affec- 
tions which ennoble our species. At the same 
time, so resolute and determined was he in the 
performance of what he believed to be his duty, 
that he would not read the burial service over 
his own son, who had committed suicide, and 
whose remains were interred under the walk, 
outside St. Paul's churchyard gate. 

A biographer who was disposed to conceal 
all failings, and to discover nothing but virtues, 
might have drawn a more pleasing portrait of 
the first Bishop of New York ; but, while doing 
full justice to him, we have endeavored never 
to lose sight of that rigid adherence to truth, 
which history, and especially Church history, 
demands. 

* Sprague's Annals, vol. v. page 246. 



THE END. 



*J 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



